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BOOK    05  1. SMS  IP    C.I  .,,„^c 

SMYTH    #    PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES 
AND    THEIR    CONTRIBUTORS     174  1-1850 


3    ^153    DD057710    fi 


4 


V 


V'  \ 


THE 


Philadelphia  Magazines 


AND  THEIR 


CONTRIBUTORS 
1741-18^0 


BY 

ALBERT    H.    SMYTH, 

A.  B.,  Johns  Hopkins  University , 

Professor  of  English  Literature  in  the  Philadelphia  High  School: 
Member  of  the  Atnerican  Philosophical  Society. 


philadelphia  : 

Robert  M.  Lindsay 

1892 


Copyrighted,  1892, 
A.  H.  SMYTH. 


so 


TO 

J.   G.   ROSENGARTEN 


A  TOKEN  OF  THE 


GRATITUDE  AND   AFFECTTON   OF   THE 
AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


This  study  in  the  history  of  the  Phila- 
delphia magazines  was  undertaken  at  the  re- 
quest of  Professor  H.  B.  Adams,  and  the 
results  were  first  read  at  a  joint-meeting  of 
the  Historical  and  English  Seminaries  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University.  At  a  later  date 
they  were  again  read  before  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania.  The  subject  has 
been  found  so  rich,  and  the  materials  so  in- 
teresting, that,  in  spite  of  my  best  efforts  to  be 
brief,  the  article  has  grown  into  a  book.  It  has 
been  with  no  little  distrust  that  I  have  made 
this  wide  excursion  from  my  chosen  studies, 
but  the  generous  aid  and  encouragement  of 
friends,  who  are  learned  in  our  local  lore,  have 
given  me  heart  to  complete  and  to  publish  the 
results  of  these  researches. 

A  complete  list  of  the  Philadelphia  maga- 
zines is  impossible.  Many  of  them  have  dis- 
appeared and  left  not  a  rack  behind.  The 
special  student  of  Pennsylvania  history  will 
(5) 


6  PREFACE. 

detect  some  omissions  in  these  pages,  for  all 
that  has  here  been  done  has  been  done  at  first 
hand,  and  where  a  magazine  was  inaccessible 
to  me,  I  have  not  attempted  to  see  it  through 
the  eyes  of  a  more  fortunate  investigator.  I 
have  done  my  best  to  make  the  story,  dull  and 
dreary  as  it  surely  is  at  times,  not  unworthy 
of  its  subject,  or  of  the  city  that  it  describes, 
and  of  which  I  grow  fonder  year  by  year. 

My  grateful  thanks  are  due  to  my  friends. 
Professor  H.  B.  Adams,  Dr.  James  W.  Bright, 
Mr.  Charles  R.  Hildeburn,  Professor  John 
Bach  McMaster,  Hon.  S.  W.  Pennypacker 
and  Mr.  F.  D.  Stone,  for  thoughtful  sugges- 
tions and  valuable  information. 

I  am  deeply  indebted  to  Mr.  George  W. 
Childs  for  his  unfailing  interest  and  assistance. 
To  Mr.  George  R.  Graham,  Dr.  Thomas 
Dunn  English,  Mr.  John  Sartain  and  Mr. 
Frank  Lee  Benedict  I  owe  some  of  the  most 
important  facts  in  this  little  volume. 

Albert  H.  Smyth. 

Philadelphia,  j"  February ,  i8g2, 

126,  South  Twenty-second  Street. 


"  Sweet  Philadelphia  !  lov'liest  of  the  lawn," 
Where  rising  greatness  opes  its  pleasing  dawn, 
Where  daring  commerce  spreads  th'  advent'rous  sail, 
Cleaves  thro'  the  wave,  and  drives  before  the  gale, 
Where  genius  yields  her  kind  conducting  lore, 
And  learning  spreads  its  inexhausted  store : — 
Kind  seat  of  industry,  where  art  may  see 
Its  labours  foster'd  to  its  due  degree, 
Where  merit  meets  the  due  regard  it  claims, 
Tho'  envy  dictates  and  tho'  malice  blames  : — 
Thou  fairest  daughter  of  Columbia's  train. 
The  great  emporium  of  the  western  plain ; — 
Best  seat  of  science,  friend  to  ev'ry  art, 
That  mends,  improves,  or  dignifies  the  heart. 

The  Philadelphiad^  Vol.  I,  p.  6,  1784. 


INTRODUCTION. 


To  relate  the  history  of  the  Philadelphia 
magazines  is  to  tell  the  story  of  Philadelphia 
literature.  The  story  is  not  a  stately  nor  a 
splendid  one,  but  it  is  exceedingly  instructive. 
It  helps  to  exhibit  the  process  of  American 
literature  as  an  evolution,  and  it  illustrates 
perilous  and  important  chapters  in  American 
history.  For  a  hundred  years  Pennsylvania 
was  the  seat  of  the  ripest  culture  in  America. 
The  best  libraries  were  to  be  found  here,  and 
the  earliest  and  choicest  reprints  of  Latin  and 
English  classics  were  made  here.  James 
Logan,  a  man  of  gentle  nature  and  a  scholar 
of  rare  attainments,  had  gathered  at  Stenton 
a  library  that  comprehended  books  "so  scarce 
that  neither  price  nor  prayers  could  purchase 
them."  John  Davis,  the  satirical  English 
traveller,  who  said  of  Princeton  that  it  was  "a 
place  more  famous  for  its  college  than  its 
learning,"  did  justice,  despite  of  his  own 
nature,  to  Logan  and  to  Philadelphia  when 
he  wrote:  *'The  Greek  and  Roman  authors, 
(9) 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

forgotten  on  their  native  banks  of  the  Ilissus 
and  Tiber,  delight  by  the  kindness  of  a  Logan 
the  votaries  to  learning  on  those  of  the  Dela- 
ware!' The  eagerness  of  Philadelphia  social 
circles  for  each  new  thing  in  literature  enabled 
booksellers  to  import  large  supplies  from  Eng- 
land and  to  undertake  splendid  editions  of 
notable  books.  Dr.  Johnson  was  made  to  feel 
amiable  for  a  moment  toward  America  on  being 
presented  with  a  copy  of  Rasselas  bearing  a 
Philadelphia  imprint. 

The  first  American  editions  of  Shakespeare 
and  of  Milton,  of  "Pamela"  and  of  "The 
Vicar  of  Wakefield"  were  printed  in  Philadel- 
phia. In  the  same  city,  in  1805,  Aristotle's 
"  Ethics  "  and  "  Politics  "  were  published  for  the 
first  time  in  America.  A  little  later  came  the 
costly  "  Columbiad  "  and  the  great  volumes  of 
Alexander  Wilson.  Robert  Aitken,  at  the 
Pope's  Head,  issued  the  first  English  Bible  in 
America  in  1782,  and  his  daughter,  Jane, 
printed  Charles  Thomson's  translation  of  the 
Septuagint  in  four  superb  volumes  in  1808. 
Robert  Bell  successfully  compiled  Blackstone's 
Comjneiitaries  in  1772,  "  a  stupendous  enter- 
prise."    Bell  did  much  by  his  good  taste  and 


INTRODUCTION.  1 1 

untiring  industry  to  advance  the  literary  cult- 
ure of  the  city.  "  The  more  books  arc  sold," 
he  declared  in  one  of  his  broadsides,  "the 
more  will  be  sold,  is  an  established  Truth  well 
known  to  every  liberal  reader,  and  to  every 
bookseller  of  experience.  For  the  sale  of  one 
book  propagateth  the  sale  of  another  with  as 
much  certainty  as  the  possession  of  one  guinea 
helpeth  to  the  possession  of  another." 

"The  Philadelphiad "  (1784)  gives  us  a 
glimpse  of  the  motley  society  that  loitered  in 
Bell's  THird  Street  shop. 

"  Just  by  St.  Paul's,  where  dry  divines  rehearse. 
Bell  keeps  his  store  for  vending  prose  and  verse, 
And  books  that's  neither — for  no  age  nor  clime, 
Lame,  languid  prose,  begot  on  hobb"ling  ryme. 
Here  authors  meet  who  ne'er  a  sprig  have  got. 
The  poet,  player,  doctor,  wit  and  sot; 
Smart  politicians  wrangling  here  are  seen 
Condemning  Jeffries  or  indulging  spleen. 
Reproving  Congress  or  amending  laws, 
Still  fond  to  find  out  blemishes  and  flaws; 
Here  harmless  sentirnetital-mongers  join 
To  praise  some  author  or  his  wit  refine, 
Or  treat  the  mental  appetite  with  lore 
From  Plato's,  Pope's,  and  Shakespeare's  endless  store ; 
Young  blushing  writers,  eager  for  the  bays. 
Try  here  the  merit  of  their  new-born  lays. 
Seek  for  a  patron,  follow  fleeting  fame. 
And  beg  the  slut  may  raise  their  hidden  name.'* 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

The  Philadelphia  magazines,  from  Franklin's 
to  Graham's,  furnished  ample  opportunities  for 
'* young  blushing  writers  eager  for  the  bays." 
Their  articles,  it  is  true,  were  often  a  kind  of 
yeasty  collection  of  fond  and  winnowed  opin- 
ions, but  among  these  shallow  fopperies  there 
would  at  times  be  heard  a  strain  of  higher 
mood.  Nor  is  the  story  of  these  magazines 
altogether  without  its  pathos.  American 
writers,  after  the  Revolution  which  lost  Eng- 
land her  colonies,  felt  themselves  to  be  under 
the  opprobrium  of  the  literary  world.  They 
felt  keenly  the  sneers  of  English  men-of-letters, 
and  winced  under  injustice  and  invective  that 
they  were  not  strong  enough  to  resent.  The 
insolence  of  British  travellers  was  especially 
provoking.  J.  N.  Williams,  a  Philadelphian, 
stung  by  some  offensive  criticism  by  a  wan- 
dering Englishman,  wrote,  "  America  looked 
not  for  a  spy  upon  the  sanctity  of  her  house- 
hold gods  in  the  stranger  that  sat  within  her 
gates ;  she  scarce  supposed  that  the  hand  of 
a  clumsy  servant  like  the  claws  of  the  har- 
pies could  utterly  mar  and  defile  the  feast  which 
honest  hospitality  had  provided." 

The  Port  Folio ^  in  1810,  was  moved  indig- 


INTRODUCTION.  1 3 

nantly  to  declare  that  foreign  critics  grounded 
their  strictures  ''  upon  the  tales  of  some  miser- 
able reptiles  who,  after  having  abused  the 
hospitality  and  patience  of  this  country,  levy  a 
tax  from  their  own  by  disseminating  a  vile 
mass  of  falsehood  and  nonsense  under  the  de- 
nomination of  Travels  through  the  United 
States." 

Sydney  Smith  waved  American  literature 
contemptuously  aside  in  the  Edinburgh  Review. 
The  Quarterly  was  brutal  in  its  attacks  upon 
timid  transatlantic  books.  William  Godwin 
reproached  American  ignorance,  and  proceeded 
to  locate  Philadelphia  upon  the  Chesapeake 
Bay.  No  wonder  that  the  Port  Folio  exclaimed 
in  1810,  **  The  fastidious  arrogance  with  which 
the  reviewers  and  magazine  makers  of  Great 
Britain  treat  the  genius  and  intellect  of  this 
country  is  equalled  by  nothing  but  their  pro- 
found ignorance  of  its  situation." 

The  insolence  of  Great  Britain  affected 
American  writers  in  two  ways.  Some  it  stung 
into  violent  hatred  or  sullen  antagonism,  others 
it  coerced  into  timid  imitation  and  servility. 
Upon  Dennie  and  his  associates  it  had  the 
latter  effect,  and  the  Port  Folio  vigorously  re- 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

sisted  all  "Americanisms"  in  politics  and  in 
letters,  and  sought  to  conciliate  England  and 
to  win  the  coveted  stamp  of  English  approba- 
tion by  unlimited  adulation  of  the  favorites  of 
the  hour.  "  To  study  with  a  view  of  becoming 
an  author  by  profession  in  America,"  wrote 
Dennie,  "  is  a  prospect  of  no  less  flattering 
promise  than  to  publish  among  the  Esqui- 
maux an  essay  on  delicacy  of  taste,  or  to  found 
an  academy  of  sciences  in  Lapland." 

Upon  Brackenridge  and  Paine  the  truculent 
criticisms  of  England  acted  as  a  lively  stimulus, 
and  they  went  profanely  to  work  "  to  resent 
the  British  scoff  that  when  separated  from  Eng- 
land the  colonies  would  become  mere  illiterate 
ourang-outangs." 

Thomas  Green  Fessenden,  one  of  the  con- 
tributors to  the  Farmers'  Weekly  Museum,  and 
to  Dennie's  Port  Folio,  wrote  in  the  preface  to 
his  "Original  Poems"  (Philadelphia,  1806), 
"Although  the  war,  which  terminated  in  a 
separation  of  the  two  nations,  inflicted  wounds 
which,  it  is  to  be  feared,  still  rankle,  yet  the 
more  considerate  of  both  countries  have  long 
desired  (if  I  may  be  allowed  a  transatlantic 
simile)  that  the  hatchet  of  animosity  might  be 


INTRODUCTION.  1 5 

buried  in  the  grave  of  oblivion  "  (page  6).  A 
little  further  on  he  confesses  his  timidity,  when, 
speaking  of  the  political  leaders  at  home,  he 
says,  "  I  could  have  enlarged  on  the  demerits 
of  these  political  impostors,  but  I  feared  I 
might  disgust  the  English  reader  by  such  ex- 
hibitions of  human  depravity"  (p.  7). 

A  serener  voice  is  that  of  John  Blair  Linn, 
brother-in-law  of  Charles  Brockden  Brown, 
who  was  not  out  of  love  with  his  nativity,  nor 
accustomed  to  disable  the  benefits  of  his 
country.  In  his  "  Powers  of  Genius,"  which 
was  beautifully  reprinted  in  England,  we 
read: 

"  I  shall  not  attempt  to  conceal  the  enthu- 
siasm which  I  feel  for  meritorious  perform- 
ances of  native  Americans.  Nor  can  I  re- 
press my  indignation  at  the  unjust  manner  in 
which  they  are  treated  by  the  reviewers  of 
England.  America,  notwithstanding  their 
aspersions,  has  attained  an  eminence  in  litera- 
ture, which  is,  at  least,  respectable.  Like 
Hercules  in  his  cradle,  she  has  manifested  a 
gigantic  grasp,  and  discovered  that  she  will 
be  great.  The  wisdom,  penetration  and  elo- 
quence of  her  statesmen  are  undoubted — they 


1 6  INTRODUCTION. 

are  known  and  acknowledged  throughout 
Europe.  The  gentlemen  of  the  law,  who  fill 
her  benches  of  justice,  and  who  are  heard  at 
the  bar,  are  eminently  distinguished  by  the 
powers  of  reason,  and  by  plausibility  of  ad- 
dress  Our  historians  have  not  been  nu- 
merous. Some,  however,  who  have  unrolled 
our  records  of  truth  claim  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  praise The  prospect  before  us 

is  now  brightening.  Histories  have  been 
promised  from  pens  which  have  raised  our 
expectations.  The  death  of  our  great  Wash- 
ington has  left  a  subject  for  the  American  his- 
torian which  has  never  been  surpassed  in  dig- 
nity  From  the  poems  and  fictions  of 

the  Columbian  Muse,  several  works  might 
be  selected,  which  deserve  high  and  distin- 
guishing praise.  The  poetry  of  our  country 
has  not  yet,  I  hope,  assumed  its  most  ele- 
vated and  elegant  form.  Beneath  our  skies, 
fancy  neither  sickens  nor  dies.  The  fire  of 
poetry  is  kindled  by  our  storms.  Amid  our 
plains,  on  the  banks  of  our  waters,  and  on  our 
mountains,  dwells  the  spirit  of  inventive  en- 
thusiasm. 

"These  regions  are  not  formed  only  to  echo 


INTRODUCTION.  1/ 

the  voice  of  Europe,  but  from  them  shall  yet 
sound  a  lyre  which  shall  be  the  admiration  of 
the  world. 

"  From  the  exhibition  of  American  talent  I 
indulge  the  warmest  expectations.  I  behold, 
in  imagination,  the  Newtons,  the  Miltons  and 
the  Robertsons  of  this  new  world,  and  I  be- 
hold the  sun  of  genius  pouring  on  our  land 
his  meridian  beams. 

"  In  order  to  concentrate  the  force  of  her 
literature,  the  genius  of  America  points  to  a 
National  University,  so  warmly  recommended, 
and  remembered  in  his  will,  by  our  deceased 
friend  and  father.  Such  an  establishment,  far 
more  than  a  pyramid  that  reached  the  clouds, 
would  honor  the  name  of  Washington " 
(p.  81). 

The  Philadelphia  writers  had  their  own  little 
thrills,  and  their  own  little  ambitions,  and  amid 
the  poverty  of  their  intellectual  surroundings 
they  refreshed  themselves  with  visions  of  the 
giant  things  to  come  at  large.  James  Hall,  in 
his  "  Letters  from  the  West,"  wrote :  **  The 
vicinity  of  Pittsburg  may  one  day  wake  the 
lyre  of  the  Pennsylvanian  bard  to  strains  as 
martial  and  as  sweet  as  Scott ;  .  .  .  .  believe 


1 8  INTRODUCTION. 

me,  I  should  tread  with  as  much  reverence 
over  the  mausoleum  of  a  Shawanee  chief,  as 
among  the  catacombs  of  Egypt,  and  would 
speculate  with  as  much  delight  upon  the  site 
of  an  Indian  village  as  in  the  gardens  of 
Tivoli,  or  the  ruins  of  Herculaneum." 

American  critics  soon  caught  the  contagion 
of  sneering  censure,  and  caused  the  Port  Folio 
to  say,  in  i8ii:  "American  critics  seem,  in 
almost  all  cases,  to  have  entered  into  a  con- 
federacy to  exterminate  American  poetry.  If 
an  individual  has  the  temerity  to  jingle  a  coup- 
let, and  to  avow  himself  descended  from  Amer- 
icans, the  offence  is  absolutely  unpardonable." 
When  Fenimore  Cooper  published  his  first 
novel,  he  suppressed  his  name  and  wrote  in- 
stead, "  Precaution,  by  a7i  Englishman^ 

Still,  a  notable  feature  of  the  American 
magazines  was  a  general  insistence  upon  or, 
perhaps,  a  preference  for  subjects  out  of  Amer- 
ican history,  or  articles  dealing  with  what 
might  be  called  American  archaeology  — 
sketches  of  the  life  and  character  of  "  the  an- 
cients of  these  lands  " — or,  at  least,  contribu- 
tions that  were  tricked  out  in  some  local  garb 
or  color.    The  minds  of  young  American  writ- 


INTRODUCTION.  1 9 

ers  turned  with  alacrity  to  the  subjects  that 
lay  nearest  to  them  and  which  were  intimately 
connected  with  the  life  of  the  country.  A 
national  literature  was  never  altogether  absent 
from  their  thoughts,  however  the  fear  of  Eng- 
lish censure  or  ridicule  may  have  checked  the 
aspiration.  John  Webbe,  in  his  prospectus  to 
the  first  American  magazine,  said  that  the  new 
venture  would  be  "  an  attempt  to  erect  on  neu- 
tral principles  a  publick  theatre  in  the  centre 
of  the  British  Empire  in  America  "  {Amer. 
Weekly  Mercury,  October  30,  1740). 

A  discussion  of  the  Philadelphia  magazines 
takes  us  back  to  a  time  when  Philadelphia  led 
all  the  cities  of  the  country  in  culture,  in  com- 
merce, in  statecraft  and  in  authorship.  Every 
new  experiment  in  literature  was  first  tried  in 
Philadelphia.  Her's  was  the  first  monthly  mag- 
azine (January,  1741),  and  her's,  too,  the  first 
daily  newspaper  (Amer.  Daily  Advertiser^  De- 
cember 21,  1784).  The  first  religious  maga- 
zine was  Sauer's  Geistliches  Magazien  (1764) 
— for  which  Christopher  Sauer  cast  his  own 
type,  the  first  made  in  America — and  the  first 
religious  weekly  was  The  Religious  Remem- 
brancer (September   4,    18 13).      Philadelphia 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

led  off  with  the  first  penny  paper  {The  Cent) 
in  1830;  and  the  first  mathematical  journal 
(The  Anniilus)^  and  the  ^x^t  Juvenile  Magazine 
(1802),  and  the  first  illustrated  comical  paper 
on  an  original  plan,  The  John  Donkey^  in  1848, 
were  all  Philadelphia  adventures. 

There  is  scarcely  a  notable  name  in  the  lit- 
erature of  America  that  is  not  in  some  way 
connected  with  the  Philadelphia  magazines. 
Dennie  and  Brown,  the  first  professional  men- 
of-letters  on  this  continent,  were  Philadelphia 
editors.  Washington  Irving  edited  the  Ana- 
lectic  Magazine.  James  Russell  Lowell,  Edgar 
Allan  Poe  and  Bayard  Taylor  were  editorial 
writers  on  Graham's  Magazine^  and  John 
Greenleaf  Whittier  edited  The  Pennsylva7iia 
Freeman. 

Bryant  and  Cooper  and  Longfellow  and 
Hawthorne  and  a  hundred  lesser  men  were 
constant  contributors  to  the  Philadelphia 
journals. 

A  striking  difference  between  the  older 
magazines  and  the  recent  ones  is  the  conspic- 
uous absence  from  the  journal  of  a  century 
ago  of  what  is  commonly  called  "light  litera- 
ture."    Magazines   were   then    conducted  by 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

scholars  for  scholars.  '*  Popular  "  essays  and 
silly  novels  had  not  yet  depraved  the  taste  of 
readers  who  could  relish  Somerville  and  Shen- 
stone,  Savage  and  Johnson,  Articles  ap- 
peared monthly  in  the  Port  Folio  that  could 
not  by  any  chance  win  recognition  from  an  edi- 
tor of  these  days.  One  of  the  favorite  amuse- 
ments of  the  Port  Folio  gentlemen  was  the 
translation  of  Mother  Goose  melodies  and 
alliterative  nursery  rhymes  into  Latin,  and 
especially  into  Greek.  These  curious  trans- 
lations, in  which  the  object  was  to  preserve  in 
the  Greek,  as  far  as  possible,  the  verbal  eccen- 
tricities of  "  butter  blue  beans  "  and  other 
intricate  verses  of  infantile  memory,  are  scat- 
tered up  and  down  the  pages  of  the  Port  Folio, 
together  with  fresh  versions  of  Horace  and 
dissertations  upon  classical  rhetoric. 

But  the  curtain  has  fallen  on  all  this  scholas- 
tic bravery.  The  dust  of  a  dry  antiquity  has 
settled  upon  the  laborious  pages  of  these 
ragged  tomes,  undisturbed  save  by  some 
" local  grubber,"  or  by  some  "illustrator"  in 
search  of  portraits  for  a  rich  man's  library. 

Magazines  increase  and  fill  the  demand  of 
the  public,  but  they  are  not  cut  upon  the  an- 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

cient  pattern.  The  gradual  accumulation  of 
books  about  books,  of  criticisms  on  both,  of 
reviews  of  the  critics,  of  newspaper  accounts 
of  the  reviews,  of  weekly  summaries  of  the 
newspapers,  seems  to  be  carrying  us  ever 
further  from  the  face  of  reality  into  a  mere 
commerce  of  ideas  on  which  no  healthy  soul 
can  live. 


The  Philadelphia  Magazines, 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 


The  type  of  the  monthly  periodical  was 
fixed  when  Edward  Cave,  in  173 1,  founded  in 
London  The  Gentleman's  Magazine.  Ten 
years  later,  and  at  the  very  time  that  Samuel 
Johnson,  at  St.  John's  Gate,  was  preparing  for 
"  Sylvanus  Urban,  Esq.,"  the  reports  of  the 
parliamentary  debates,  Benjamin  Franklin  and 
Andrew  Bradford  issued  in  Philadelphia  the 
first  monthly  magazines  in  America. 

These  two  magazines  appear  to  have  been 
conceived  in  jealousy  and  brought  forth  in 
anger.  In  the  Philadelphia  Weekly  Mercury 
of  October  30,  1740,  is  the  announcement  of 
a  prospective  magazine  to  be  edited  by  John 
Webbe  and  printed  by  Andrew  Bradford,  to 
be  issued  monthly,  to  contain  four  sheets,  and 
to  cost  twelve  shillings  Pennsylvania  money  a 
year.  The  magazine,  it  was  promised,  should 
contain  speeches  of  governors,  addresses  and 
(23) 


24  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

answers  of  assemblies,  their  resolutions  and 
debates,  extracts  of  laws,  with  the  reasons  on 
which  they  were  founded  and  the  grievances 
intended  to  be  remedied  by  them ;  accounts 
of  the  climate,  soil,  productions,  trade  and 
manufactures  of  all  the  British  plantations, 
the  constitutions  of  the  several  colonies  with 
their  respective  views  and  interests ;  of  re- 
markable trials,  civil  and  criminal ;  of  the 
course  of  exchange  and  the  proportion  be- 
tween sterling  and  the  several  paper  curren- 
cies, and  the  price  of  goods  in  the  principal 
trading  marts  of  the  plantations.  One  thing 
only  the  new  magazine  should  not  contain : 
its  pages  should  never  be  smeared  by  false- 
hood, nor  sullied  by  defamatory  libelling. 

In  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  November 
13,  1740,  Franklin  announced  a  monthly  mag- 
azine to  be  called  The  General  Magazine  and 
Historical  Chronicle  for  all  the  British  Planta- 
tions in  America.  The  price  was  to  be  nine- 
pence  Pennsylvania  money,  with  considerable 
allowance  to  shopmen  who  should  take  quan- 
tities. The  brevity  of  Franklin's  advertise- 
ment is  in  strong  contrast  to  the  learned 
length  of  Webbe's  pedantic  prospectus.     He 


THE   EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  2$ 

claims  that  the  idea  of  the  magazine  had  long 
been  in  his  mind,  and  that  Webbe  had  stolen 
his  plans.  Before  he  had  divulged  the  scheme 
to  Webbe  he  had  proceeded  so  far  in  the  mat- 
ter as  to  choose  his  writers  and  to  buy  his 
small  type. 

Webbe  wrote  a  wrathful  reply  in  the  Mer- 
atry  of  November  13,  and  continued  it  under 
the  title  of  '*  The  Detection  "  through  three 
numbers.  He  admitted  that  Franklin  did  com- 
municate to  him  his  desire  to  print  a  maga- 
zine, and  asked  him  to  compose  it.  But  this 
did  not  restrain  him  from  publishing  at  any 
other  press  without  Mr.  Franklin's  leave.  In 
the  third  number  of  "The  Detection,"  Webbe 
accused  Franklin  of  using  his  place  of  Post- 
master to  shut  the  Mercury  out  of  the  post, 
and  of  refusing  to  allow  the  riders  to  carry  it. 
Up  to  this  point  Franklin  had  made  no  reply 
to  Webbe's  abuse,  but  upon  this  new  attack 
he  dropped  the  advertisement  of  the  magazine 
and  put  a  letter  in  its  stead  in  the  Gazette  of 
December  11.  He  acknowledged  it  to  be 
true  that  the  riders  did  not  carry  Bradford's 
Mercury,  but  explained  that  the  Postmaster- 
General,  Colonel  Spotswood,  had  forbidden  it 


26  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

because  Mr.  Bradford  had  refused  to  settle  his 
accounts  as  late  Postmaster  at  Philadelphia. 

Webbe  had  the  last  word  in  the  controversy 
in  a  reply  to  this  letter  (Mercury,  December 
1 8),  in  which  he  showed  that  Franklin  had 
not  complied  with  the  order  of  Colonel  Spots- 
wood  until  the  personal  letters  appeared  in 
the  Mercury. 

In  January  of  the  following  year  Andrew 
Bradford  published  The  American  Magazine ; 
or  a  Monthly  View  of  the  Political  State  of  the 
British  Colonies. 

Three  days  later  Franklin  issued  TJie  Gen- 
eral Magazine  a7id  Historical  Chronicle  for  all 
the  British  Plantations  in  America. 

Three  numbers  only  of  Bradford's  periodi- 
cal appeared,  and  only  one  copy  is  known  to 
exist.  It  is  lodged  in  the  New  York  Histori- 
cal Society. 

Franklin's  magazine  contained  parliamen- 
tary proceedings,  extracts  from  sermons,  a  bit 
of  verse  of  more  than  Franklinian  foulness, 
rhymes  eulogizing  Gilbert  Tennent,  and  a 
manual  of  arms.  The  title-page  wore  the  cor- 
onet and  plumes  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
Franklin    ridiculed    his   rival's    magazine    in 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  2/ 

doggerel  verse;  his  own  he  made  no  men- 
tion of  in  his  autobiography.  Its  publication 
ceased  in  June,  1741. 

The  General  Magazine  had  given  accounts 
of  the  excited  discussion  that  followed  the 
visits  paid  to  the  colonies  by  George  White- 
field.  Tens  of  thousands  listened  to  the  im- 
pressive sermons  of  the  eloquent  divine,  de- 
livered from  the  balcony  of  the  courthouse, 
which  stood  then  on  High  Street,  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  city.  There  Franklin  and  Shippen 
and  Lawrence  and  Maddox  might  daily  be 
seen,  and  there  Benjamin  Chew  and  Tench 
Francis  and  John  Ross  might  daily  be  heard. 
From  that  balcony  John  Penn,  freshly  arrived 
from  England,  **  showed  himself  to  his  anx- 
ious and  expectant  people."  One  block  east 
of  the  ancient  courthouse  was  the  London  Cof- 
fee-house, and  there,  too,  were  the  publishing 
houses  of  those  days.  Directly  opposite  to  the 
Coffee-house,  on  the  north  side  of  High  Street, 
was  the  shop  of  the  famous  bookseller  from 
London,  James  Rivington,  whose  father  in 
1741  published  Richardson's  "  Pamela,"  and 
supplied  six  editions  of  it  in  a  twelvemonth. 
Immediately  to  the  west  was  Robert  Aitken, 


28  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

who  published  the  Pennsylvania  Magazine 
and  the  first  English  Bible  in  America.  And 
hither,  to  the  old  Coffee-house,  in  1754,  Wil- 
liam Bradford  removed  his  famous  hereditary- 
press,  and  three  years  later  printed  the  third 
Philadelphia  magazine. 

The  first  William  Bradford  arrived  in  Phila- 
delphia in  1685,  and  brought  with  him  the 
second  printing  press  that  was  set  up  in  Brit- 
ish North  America.  Upon  it,  in  the  following 
year,  he  printed  the  first  Middle  Colony  pub- 
lication, the  "  Kalendarium  Pennsilvaniense." 
His  son,  Andrew  Sowle,  named  after  a  Lon- 
don printer  of  Friends'  books,  to  whom  the 
father  had  been  apprenticed,  continued  the 
business,  and  from  1712  to  1723  was  the  only 
printer  in  Pennsylvania.  From  his  press,  at 
the  sign  of  the  Bible,  issued  the  first  Ameri- 
can magazine.  Andrew's  nephew,  William 
Bradford,  grandson  of  the  first  William,  trans- 
ferred the  business  to  the  London  Coffee- 
house, and  in  October,  1757,  published  the 
first  number  of  "  The  American  Magazine  and 
Monthly  Chronicle  for  the  British  Colonies.  By 
a  Society  of  Gentlemen.  Printed  and  sold  by 
William  Bradford."     The  policy  of  the  new 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.        29 

magazine  was  to  support  the  cause  of  the 
crown  against  France,  and  the  Penns  against 
Franklin  and  the  Friends. 

The  French  and  Indian  war  brought  the 
magazine  into  existence.  "That  war,"  says  the 
editor  in  his  preface,  **  has  rendered  this  coun- 
try at  length  the  object  of  a  very  general  atten- 
tion, and  it  seems  now  become  as  much  the 
mode  among  those  who  would  be  useful  or 
conspicuous  in  the  state,  to  seek  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  affairs  of  these  colonies,  their  con- 
stitutions, interests  and  commerce,  as  it  had 
been  before,  to  look  upon  such  matters  as 
things  of  inferior  or  secondary  consideration." 
The  editor  further  relates  the  origin  of  the 
enterprise  :  '*  It  was  proposed  by  some  book- 
sellers and  others  in  London,  soon  after  the 
commencement  of  the  present  war,  to  some 
persons  in  this  city  who  were  thought  to 
have  abilities  and  leisure  for  the  work,  to 
undertake  a  monthly  magazine  for  the  colo- 
nies, offering  at  the  same  time  to  procure  con- 
siderable encouragement  for  it  in  all  parts  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

"The  persons  to  whom  the  proposal  was 
made,  approved  of  the  design,  but  gave  for 


30  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

answer,  that  if  it  was  to  be  a  work  of  general 
use  for  all  the  British  colonies,  and  not  con- 
fined to  the  affairs  of  a  few  particular  ones,  it 
could  not  be  carried  on  without  establishing 
an  extensive  correspondence  with  men  of 
leisure  and  learning  in  all  parts  of  America^ 
which  would  require  some  time  and  a  con- 
siderable expense.  This,  however,  has  at 
length  been  happily  effected,  and  proper  per- 
sons are  now  engaged  in  the  design,  not  only 
in  all  the  different  governments  on  this  conti- 
nent, but  likewise  in  most  of  the  West  India 
Islands." 

At  the  head  of  each  issue  of  the  magazine 
is  a  vignette  in  which  the  French  and  English 
treatment  of  the  Indian  are  contrasted.  In 
the  middle  of  the  picture  an  Indian  leans  upon 
his  gun  ;  on  the  left  is  a  Briton  reading  from 
the  Bible,  beneath  his  arm  is  a  roll  of  cloth, 
symbolizing  the  dress  and  manufactures  of 
civilized  life;  on  the  right  is  a  Frenchman, 
extravagantly  dressed,  offering  to  the  savage 
a  tomahawk  and  purse  of  gold.  The  vignette 
has  the  inferior  motto :  Prcevalebit  ceqiiior, 
and  the  title-page  the  further  legend  :  Veritatis 
cultores,  Fraudis  inimici. 


THE   EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  3 1 

The  first  number  (October,  1757)  gave  a 
variety  of  pleasing  and  extraordinary  informa- 
tion to  curious  readers  :  Indians,  "  broods  of 
French  savages ;"  earthquakes,  St.  Helmo's 
fire,  phosphorescence,  aurora  borealis,  mer- 
men and  mermaids,  sea-snakes,  krakens,  etc., 
were  jostled  together  in  charming  confusion. 

The  editor  of  the  new  magazine  was  the 
Rev.  William  Smith,  first  provost  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Philadelphia.  He  was  born  near  Aber- 
deen, Scotland,  in  1727,  and  was  invited  to 
take  charge  of  the  Seminary  of  Philadelphia 
in  1752.  His  personality  made  the  magazine 
a  very  fair  representative  of  the  culture  and 
refinement  of  Philadelphia  society,  when  al- 
ready through  the  influence  of  the  college  and 
library  the  city  was  becoming  ^*  the  Athens  of 
America,"  as,  at  a  later  date,  it  was  frequently 
called. 

Smith  published  in  eight  successive  numbers 
of  the  magazine  a  series  of  papers  called  ''The 
Hermit,"  and  signed  ''Theodore."  He  de- 
sired these  contributions  to  be  considered  in 

the  nature  of  a  monthly  sermon "In 

composing  these  occasional  lectures,  I  shall 
be  animated  with  the  thoughts  that  they  are 


32  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

not  to  be  delivered  to  a  single  auditory,  and 
in  the  presence  of  persons  among  whom  there 
might  be  many  of  my  enemies,  but  to  this 
whole  continent,  and  in  a  manner  that  can 
never  create  prejudices  against  my  person  or 
performances,  as  I  am  to  be  forever  concealed/' 
(Vol.  I,  p.  43)- 

The  earliest  reference  to  the  genius  of  Benja- 
min West  is  in  the  American  Magazine,  p.  237, 
where  of  the  19-year-old  Chester  County  boy 
it  is  said,  "We  are  glad  of  this  opportunity 
of  making  known  to  the  world  the  name  of 
so  extraordinary  a  genius  as  Mr.  West.  He 
was  born  in  Chester  County,  in  this  province, 
and,  without  the  assistance  of  any  master,  has 
acquired  such  a  delicacy  and  correctness  of 
expression  in  his  paintings,  joined  to  such  a 
laudable  thirst  of  improvement,  that  we  are 
persuaded,  when  he  shall  have  obtained  more 
experience  and  proper  opportunities  of  viewing 
the  productions  of  able  masters,  he  will  be- 
come truly  eminent  in  his  profession."  This 
note  accompanies  a  poem  upon  one  of  Mr. 
West's  portraits  which,  the  editor  remarks, 
"  We  communicate  with  particular  pleasure, 
when  we  consider  that  the  lady  who  sat,  the 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  33 

painter  who  guided  the  pencil,  and  the  poet 
who  so  well  describes  the  whole,  are  all  natives 
of  this  place,  and  very  young T 

The  poet  so  happily  applauded  for  his  skill 
did  indeed  turn  his  verse  and  his  compliment 
gracefully. 

**  Yet  sure  his  flattering  pencil's  unsincere, 

His  fancy  takes  the  place  of  bashful  truth ; 
And  warm  imagination  pictures  here 

The  pride  of  beauty  and  the  bloom  of  youth. 

Thus  had  I  said,  and  thus,  deluded,  thought, 
Had  lovely  Stella  still  remained  unseen, 

Whose  grace  and  beauty  to  perfection  brought 
Make  every  imitative  art  look  mean." 

The  poem  was  dated  Philadelphia,  February 
15,  1758,  and  signed  "Lovelace." 

R.  W.  Griswold,  "Poets  and  Poetry  of  Amer- 
ica" (p.  24)  gives  Joseph  Shippen  (1732-1810) 
the  credit  of  the  lines,  and  Moses  Coit  Tyler 
assigns  them  to  the  same  source  (History  of 
American  Literature,  II,  240).  Another  poem 
by  Shippen,  "  On  the  Glorious  Victory  near 
Newmark  in  Silesia,"  was  contributed  to  the 
magazine  in  March,  over  the  signature 
"  Annandius." 

Hearty  appreciation  of  earnestness  and  abil- 
ity in  the  young  is  a  characteristic  of  this 
3 


34  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

American  Magazine  and  of  its  editor,  who, 
with  the  true  teacher's  instinct,  freely  awarded 
superb  and  splendid  praise  to  the  humble  and 
obscure  for  good  work  done.  Among  the 
young  men  who  received  recognition  was 
Francis  Hopkinson,  whose  first  poem  appeared 
in  the  first  number  (p.  44),  "  Ode  on  Music, 
written  at  Philadelphia,  by  a  young  gentleman 
of  seventeen,  on  his  beginning  to  learn  the 
harpsichord."  In  the  following  month  Hopkin- 
son contributed  two  poems  in  imitation  of 
Milton,  "  L'AUegro  "  and  "  II  Penseroso,"  the 
first  dedicated  to  B.  C — w,  Esq.  (Benjamin 
Chew),  under  whom  the  author  studied  law, 
and  the  latter  a  tribute  of  affection  to  William 
Smith. 

"  And  thou,  O  S — th !  my  more  than  friend, 
To  whom  these  artless  lines  I  send, 
Once  more  thy  wonted  candor  bring, 
And  hear  the  muse  you  taught  to  sing ; 
The  muse  that  strives  to  win  your  ear, 
By  themes  your  soul  delights  to  hear, 
And  loves  like  you,  in  sober  mood, 
To  meditate  oijust  and  good. 

Exalted  themes  !  divinest  maid ! 
Sweet  Melancholy,  raise  thy  head ; 
With  languid  look,  oh  quickly  come, 
And  lead  me  to  thy  Hermit  home. 


THE   EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  35 

Then  let  my  frequent  feet  be  seen 
On  yonder  steep  romantic  green, 
Along  whose  yellow  gravelly  side, 
ScJuiylkill  sweeps  his  gentle  tide. 

Rude,  rough  and  rugged  rocks  surrounding, 
And  clash  of  broken  waves  resounding. 
Where  waters  fall  with  loud'ning  roar 
Rebellowing  down  the  hilly  shore. ""^ 

The  other  poems  by  Hopkinson  in  the 
American  Magazine  are,  "  Ode  on  the  Morn- 
ing" (page  187),  "On  the  taking  of  Cape 
Breton"  (page  552)  and  "Verses  inscribed  to 
Mr.  WoUaston  "  (the  portrait  painter). 

The  most  remarkable  poem  in  the  maga- 
zine appeared  in  March,  1758.  It  occupied 
seven  octavo  pages,  and  drew  in  its  wake 
three  closely-printed  pages  of  learned  notes. 
It  set  forth  its  subject  "  On  the  Invention  of 
Letters  and  the  Art  of  Printing.  Addrest  to 
Mr.  Richardson,  in  London,  the  Author  and 
Printer  of  Sir  Charles  Grandison  and  other 
works  for  the  promotion  of  Religion,  Virtue 
and  Polite  Manners,  in  a  corrupted  age."  The 
anonymous  author  lived  in  Kent  County,  Mary- 

*  Alluding  to  William  Smith's  home  at  Falls  of  Schuylkill. 
There  is  a  further  description  in  prose  of  Smith's  summer 
home  upon  page  123  of  the  magazine. 


36  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

land.  "  His  intimacy  with  Mr.  Pope,"  he  says, 
"  obliged  him  to  tell  that  great  Poet,  above 
twenty  years  ago,  that  it  was  peculiarly  un- 
grateful in  him  not  to  celebrate  such  a  sub- 
ject as  the  Invention  of  Letters,  or  to  suf- 
fer it  to  be  disgraced  by  a  meaner  hand," 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  note  that  the  author 
credits  Koster  with  the  glory  of  the  invention 
of  printing. 

"  Ah  !  let  not  Faustus  rob  great  Roster's  name 
Like  him,  who  since  usurp'd  Columbus'  fame. 
Pierian  laurels  flourish  round  his  tomb  ; 
And  ever-living  roses  breathe  your  bloom  !  "  * 

Many  wild  conjectures  have  been  made  as 
to  the  identity  of  the  Kentish  man  who  con- 
tributed this  long,  careful  and  learned  poem 
to  American  literature,  but  the  author  has 
hitherto  remained  unknown.  In  the  summer 
of  1 89 1,  while  reading  in  the  British  Museum, 
I  found  a  copy  of  the  American  Magazine, 
annotated  throughout  in  a  contemporary 
hand,  and  apparently  the  gift  of  a  Philadel- 

^  Which  reminds  us  of  Sandys's  translation  of  a  fifteenth 
century  epitaph  ; 

"  Let  Koster's  fame  live  ever  in  our  hearts 
Unshar'd;  whose  art  preserves  all  other  arts." 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.        37 

phian  to  an  Englishman  who  had  visited  the 
colonies.  This  would  seem  to  be  evident 
from  the  character  of  the  notes,  which  read 
sometimes  like  the  following  : 

**  This  poem  was  written  by  Francis  Hop- 
kinson,  zvhom  you  will  remember  in  Philadel- 
phia!' Unfortunately,  many  of  the  historical 
notes  have  been  cut  away  in  the  binding  of 
the  book.  In  this  volufne  the  author  of  the 
poem  in  question  is  named  and  clearly  de- 
fined. To  James  Sterling,  the  author  of ''The 
.Parricides  "  and  "  The  Rival  Generals,"  must 
be  given  whatever  credit  this  poem,  written 
in  Maryland,  can  confer  upon  its  author. 

Among  Sterling's  other  poetic  contribu- 
tions is  to  be  noted  "  A  Pastoral — To  his  Ex- 
cellency George  Thomas,  Esq.,  formerly  Gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania,  and  now  General  of 
the  Leeward  Islands."  This  poem  was  written 
in  1744,  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander Pope,  by  "  one  of  the  first  encouragers 
of  this  magazine."  The  Governor  saw  the 
manuscript  and  gave  permission  for  its  publi- 
cation. It  is  an  invitation  to  the  muses  to 
visit  these  lands  : 


38  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZLNES. 

"  Haste  lovely  nymphs,  and  quickly  come  away, 
Our  sylvan  gods  lament  your  long  delay  ; 
The  stately  oaks  that  dwell  on  Delaware 
Rear  their  tall  heads  to  view  you  from  afar. 
The  Naiads  summon  all  their  sealy  crew 
And  at  Henlopen  anxious  wait  for  you. 


But  hark,  they  come  !  The  Dryads  crowd  the  shore, 
The  waters  rise,  I  hear  the  billows  roar  ! 
Hoarse  Delaware  the  joyful  tidings  brings, 
And  all  his  swans,  transported,  clap  their  wings," 

The  author's  apologetic  introduction  of 
these  enthusiastic  verses  to  the  editor  is  worth, 
preserving  : 

"As  this  poetical  brat  was  conceived  in 
North  America,  you  may,  if  you  please,  suffer 
it  to  give  its  first  squeak  in  the  world  through 
the  channel  of  the  American  Magazine.  But 
if  it  should  appear  of  a  monstrous  nature,  stifle 
the  wretch  by  all  means  in  the  birth,  and 
throw  it  into  the  river  Delaware,  from  whence, 
you  will  observe,  it  originally  sprung.  The 
parent,  I  can  assure  you,  will  shed  no  tears  at 
the  funeral.  If  Saturn  presided  at  its  forma- 
tion instead  of  Apollo,  it  will  want  no  lead  to 
make  it  sink,  but  fall  quickly  to  the  bottom 
by  its  own  natural  heaviness,  as  I  doubt  not 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  39 

many   other    modern    productions,   both    in 
prose  and  verse, 

('Sinking  from  thought  to  thought — a  vast  profound  ') 

would  have  done,  had  they  been  put  to  the 
trial." 

The  last  of  Sterling's  contributions  to  the 
American  Magazine  was  an  "  Epitaph  on  the 
Icte  Lord  Howe  :  " 

Patriots  and  chiefs  !  Britannia's  mighty  dead, 
Wioce  wisdom  counsel'd,  and  whose  valor  bled, 
With  gratulations,  'midst  your  radiant  host, 
Receive  to  ^/(3ry  Howe's  heroic  ghost; 
Who  self  severe,  in  Honor's  cause  expir'd, 
By  native  worth  and  your  example  fir'd, 
In  foreign  fields,  like  Sidney,  young  and  brave, 
DoDm'd  to  an  early  not  untimely  grave. 
Death  flew  commission'd  by  celestial  love, 
Ard,  scourging  earth,  improv'd  the  joys  above. 

Impassive  to  low  pleasure's  baneful  charm, 

Inir'd  to  gen'rous  toils,  and  nerv'd  for  arms, 

He  saw,  indignant,  our  worst  foes  advance 

With  strides  gigantic — Luxury  and  France  ! 

A  martial  spirit  emulous  to  raise, 

He  fought,  as  soldiers  fought,  in  Marlbro's  days. 

His  country  call'd — the  noble  talents  given, 

'Twas  his  t'  exert — success  belonged  to  heaven ! 

High  o'er  his  standard  and  the  crimson  shore 

Plum'd  victory  hover' d,  till  he  breathed  no  more. 

'Midst  piles  of  slaughter' d  foes — '■'■French  slaves,  he  cry'd," 

"  My  Britons  will  revenge" — then  smil'd  and  dy'd! 


40  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

The  unknown  annotator  of  the  British  Mu- 
seum copy  writes  against  these  lines,  "  I  can- 
not yet  learn  who  was  the  author  of  this  noble 
epitaph."  But  it  is  clearly  by  Sterling.  In 
the  letter  that  accompanies  the  poem  ha 
writes  ;  '*  Please  to  know  that  the  grandfather 
of  the  late  Lord  Howe,  when  in  a  high  em- 
ployment in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  was  a 
generous  patron  to  the  father  of  the  author  d^ 
these  lines,  by  presenting  to  her  Majesty  a 
memorial  of  his  long  services  in  the  wars  of 
Ireland,  Spain  and  Flanders,  and  by  farther 
promoting  his  pretensions  to  an  honourable 
post  in  the  army,  of  which  he  would  have 
been  deprived  by  a  court-interest  in  favour  of 
a  younger  and  unexperienced  officer."  Ttis 
letter  is  written  from  Maryland.  It  corre- 
sponds with  all  that  we  know  of  Sterling's 
life.  His  gratitude  was  unfailing  to  those  who 
had  helped  the  advancement  of  his  father.  In 
his  dedication  of"  The  Rival  Generals  "  (Lon- 
don, 1722),  Sterling,  addressing  himself  to 
William  Conolly,  Lord  Justice  of  Ireland, 
wrote :  "  Nor  can  I  omit  this  occasion  of  tes- 
tifying my  gratitude  to  your  Excellency,  who 
so  generously  contributed,  in  the  First  Session 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.       4I 

of  this  Parliament,  to  do  my  Father  that  Jus- 
tice in  his  Pretensions  which  was  deny'd  him 
in  a  late  reign." 

In  July,  1758,  The  American  Magazine  pub- 
lished James  Logan's  letters  to  Edmund  Hal- 
ley  establishing  Thomas  Godfrey's  claim  to 
the  invention  of"  Hadley's  quadrant."  Thomas 
Godfrey,  a  glazier  by  trade,  was  one  of  the 
original  members  of  Franklin's  "Junto,"  and 
boarded  in  Franklin's  house  on  High  Street. 
He  was  born  in  Bristol,  Pa.,  in  1704.  While 
working  for  James  Logan,  at  Stenton,  he  acci- 
dentally discovered  the  principle  upon  which 
he  constructed  his  improvement  upon  Davis's 
quadrant.  The  new  instrument  was  first  used 
in  Delaware  Bay  by  Joshua  Fisher,  of  Lewes. 
"  Mr.  Godfrey  then  sent  the  instrument  to  be 
tried  at  sea  by  an  acquaintance  of  his,  an 
ingenious  navigator,  in  a  voyage  to  Jamaica, 
who  showed  it  to  a  captain  of  a  ship  there 
just  going  for  England,  by  which  means  it 
came  to  the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Hadley " 
{American  Magazine,  p.  476).  The  Royal  So- 
ciety of  England,  after  hearing  James  Logan's 
communication,  decided  that  both  Godfrey  and 
Hadley  were  entitled  to  the  honor  of  the  in- 


42  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

vention,  and  sent  to  Godfrey  household  goods 
to  the  value  of  two  hundred  dollars. 

In  spite  of  the  clearest  facts  and  undoubted 
dates,  the  quadrant  is  still  persistently  mis- 
called by  the  name  of  its  English  appropria- 
tor.* 

"Junius"  is  the  signature  to  a  neat  poem 
called  "  The  Invitation  "  in  the  American  Mag- 
azine for  January,  1758,  and  appended  to  it  is 
the  following  editorial  note :  "  This  little  poem 
was  sent  to  us  by  an  unknown  hand,  and 
seems  dated  as  an  original.  If  it  be  so,  we 
think  it  does  honor  to  our  city ;  but  of  this 
we  are  not  certain.  All  we  can  say  is  that  we 
do  not  recollect  to  have  seen  it  before."  This 
poem,  which  William  Smith  thought  to  be  an 
honor  to  Philadelphia,  was  the  composition 
of  Thomas  Godfrey  the  younger,  then  a  youth 
of  twenty-one  years.  Editorial  encourage- 
ment won  from  him  an  "  Ode  on  Friendship  " 

*  The  remains  of  Thomas  Godfrey  were  removed  by  John 
Watson  from  the  neglected  spot  where  they  were  laid  to  Lau- 
rel Hill  Cemetery,  and  in  1843  a  monument  was  erected  over 
them  by  the  Mercantile  Library  Company  of  Philadelphia. 
Near  by,  and  close  to  the  river,  is  the  grave  of  Charles  Thom- 
son, "the  man  of  truth,"  the  Sam.  Adams,  of  Philadelphia, 
marked  by  an  Egyptian  obelisk  of  granite. 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  43 

in  August,  and  an  "  Ode  on  Wine  "  in  Sep- 
tember. Young  Godfrey  was  apprenticed  to 
a  watchmaker,  but  through  the  friendly  influ- 
ence of  the  Provost  of  the  College  he  obtained 
a  lieutenant's  commission  in  the  provincial 
forces  raised  against  Fort  Du  Quesne.  He 
died  of  fever  when  only  twenty-seven  years  of 
age,  and  his  poems,  with  an  "  account  of  T. 
Godfrey,"  were  published  by  Nathaniel  Evans 
in  1767. 

Nathaniel  Evans  knits  together,  in-a  manner, 
this  American  Magazine  and  the  Port  Folio,  as 
he  was  the  biographer  of  Godfrey,  who  was  a 
contributor  to  the  former,  and  the  Petrarch- 
lover  of  Elizabeth  Graeme  or  Mrs,  Ferguson, 
a  helper  of  the  latter.  That  he  was  hopeful  of 
his  city's  future  is  evident  from  the  following 
prophecy,  which  makes  a  part  of  his  "  Ode 
on  the  Prospect  of  Peace,"  1761  : 

"  To  such  may  Delaware,  majestic  flood, 

Lend  from  his  fiow'ry  banks  a  ravish'd  ear, 
Such  notes  as  may  dehght  the  wise  and  good, 

Or  saints  celestial  may  induce  to  hear! 
For  if  the  Muse  can  aught  of  time  descry 

Such  notes  shall  sound  thy  crystal  waves  along. 
Thy  cities  fair  with  glorious  Athens  rise, 

Nor  pure  Ilissus  boast  a  nobler  song." 


44  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Godfrey's  chief  claim  to  recognition  in  the 
history  of  American  Hterature  is  his  author- 
ship of  the  '*  Prince  of  Parthia,"  the  first  dra- 
matic work  produced  in  America.  It  was 
written  in  1758,  and  acted  at  the  new  theatre 
in  Southwark,  Philadelphia,  April  24,  1767. 

Several  of  the  contributors  to  the  magazine 
were  members  of  the  faculty  of  the  college. 
Ebenezer  Kinnersley,  chief  master  of  the  Eng- 
lish School,  summarized  the  month's  progress 
in  philosophy;  John  Beveridge  supplied  the 
readers  of  the  magazine  with  Latin  poems, 
which  were  too  lightly  timbered  for  the  loud 
praise  of  William  Smith,  who  pronounced 
them  of  equal  merit  with  the  choicest  Latinity 
of  Buchanan,  Erasmus  and  Addison.* 
"  Thomas  Coombe,  assistant  minister  of  Christ 
Church,  translated  some  of  Beveridge's  Latin 
poems,  and  was  himself  the  author  of  *'  The 

*  <'  The  Trustees  of  the  College  of  this  city,  who  have 
never  spared  either  pains  or  expense  to  supply  every  vacancy 
in  the  institution  with  able  masters  and  professors,  having 
been  informed  of  Mr.  Beveridge's  capacity,  experience  and 
fidelity,  were  pleased  at  a  full  meeting,  on  the  13th  of  this 
month  (June,  175S),  unanimously  to  appoint  him  Professor  of 
Languages  and  Master  of  the  Latin  School,  in  the  room  of 
Mr.  Paul  Jackson  "  {Afnerican  Magazine,  p.  437). 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.        45 

Peasant  of  Auburn ;  or,  the  Emigrant,"  pub- 
lished in  1775,  and  intended  as  a  continuation 
of ''The  Deserted  Village." 

A  collection  of  poems  came  from  distant 
Virginia  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Samuel  Davies 
(1724-1761),  the  dissenting  minister  in  Han- 
over County,  Virginia,  who  made  use  of  the 
pseudonym  *'  Virginianus  Hanoverensis." 

Davies  accompanied  Gilbert  Tennent  to  Eng- 
land in  1753,  and  successfully  solicited  funds 
for  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  He  at  first 
declined  to  succeed  Jonathan  Edwards  as 
President  of  Princeton  College,  but  on  the  in- 
vitation being  repeated  he  accepted,  and  pre- 
sided over  the  college  for  eighteen  months. 
In  a  note  to  one  of  his  sermons  occurs  the  fol- 
lowing :  **  That  heroic  youth.  Colonel  Wash- 
ington, whom  I  cannot  but  hope  Providence 
has  preserved  in  so  signal  a  manner  for  some 
important  service  to  his  country." 

The  magazine  also  contained  the  usual 
number  of  miscellaneous  articles  signed  with 
the  alliterative  and  indicative  names  that  were 
then  in  vogue — Timothy  Timbertoe,  Richard 
Dimple,  Hymenseus  Phiz  and  the  like. 

Gait,  in  his  life  of  Benjamin  West  (p.  JJ^, 


46  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

says  that  "  Dr.  Smith  largely  contributed  to 
elevate  the  taste,  the  sentiment  and  topics  of 
conversation  in  Philadelphia."  He  certainly 
conducted  the  American  Magazine  to  a  con- 
siderable literary  and  financial  success ;  and 
the  magazine  came  abruptly  to  an  end  on  the 
completion  of  its  first  year  in  consequence  of 
Dr.  Smith's  visit  to  England,  where  his  worth 
was  recognized  and  rewarded  with  honorary 
degrees  from  Oxford,  Aberdeen  and  Dublin. 

On  the  2d  of  January,  1769,  the  Ameri- 
can Philosophical  Society,  the  oldest  learned 
society  in  America,  was  formed  by  merging 
into  one  organization  the  "American  Philo- 
sophical Society  "  and  the  "  American  Society 
held  at  Philadelphia  for  promoting  useful 
knowledge."  Benjamin  Franklin  was  chosen 
president.  In  this  month  and  year,  January, 
1769,  a  new  magazine  appeared  in  Philadel- 
phia, printed  at  the  press  of  the  Bradfords,  as 
we  learn  from  Hall  and  Sellers'  Pennsylvania 
Gazette  of  January  12,  1769,  which  continued 
the  title  of  The  American  Magazine.  The 
editor  and  proprietor,  Mr.  Lewis  Nicola,  was 
a  member  of  the  American  Philosophical  So- 
ciety,  having    been    elected   to    membership 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.       4/ 

April  8,  1768,  and  held  the  office  of  curator 
for  1769. 

In  a  certain  sense  his  magazine  became  the 
voice  of  the  Society;  for  each  number,  except 
the  first,  contained  an  appendix  of  sixteen 
pages  made  up  of  the  Society's  publications. 
Nicola  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  in  17 17. 
He  served  in  the  English  army,  but  in  1766 
resigned  his  commission,  emigrated  to  Amer- 
ica, and  settled  in  Philadelphia. 

He  was  town-major  of  Philadelphia  during 
the  Revolution,  wrote  several  military  works, 
but  is  chiefly  remembered  for  his  letter  to 
General  Washington  in  May,  1783,  asking 
him  to  accept  the  title  of  King  of  the  United 
States. 

The  magazine  contained  various  practical 
articles  and  sketches  of  American  occurrences. 
In  the  February  number  was  a  large  and  cu- 
rious engraving,  the  only  one  in  all  the  issues 
of  the  magazine,  representing  the  manner  of 
fowling  in  Norway.  The  engraver  is  un- 
known. 

The  price  of  the  magazine  was  13  shillings, 
Pennsylvania  currency.  It  was  suspended  in 
September,  1769. 


48  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

"  TJie  Pennsylvania  Magazine^  07"  American 
Monthly  Museum^  Vol.  I,  1775,  Philadelphia, 
printed  and  sold  by  R.  Aitken,  printer  and 
bookseller,  opposite  the  London  Coffee-house, 
Front  Street,"  was  published  amidst  prepara- 
tions for  war.  The  publisher  apologized  for 
lack  of  variety  in  the  year's  work,  by  saying 
that  we  in  America  "are  deprived  of  one  con- 
siderable fund  of  entertainment  which  contrib- 
utes largely  to  the  embellishment  of  the 
magazines  in  Europe,  viz.,  discoveries  of  cu- 
rious remains  of  antiquity.  .  .  .  We  can  look 
no  further  back  than  to  the  rude  manners  and 
customs  of  the  savage  aborigines  of  North 
America  ....  but  the  principal  difficulty  in 
our  way  is  the  present  importunate  situation 
of  public  affairs  ....  every  heart  and  hand 
seems  to  be  engaged  in  the  interesting  strug- 
gle for  American  Liberty." 

Thomas  Paine  arrived  in  Philadelphia  in 
1775,  with  letters  from  Franklin,  and  was  im- 
mediately employed  by  Aitken  as  editor  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  with  a  salary  of 
£2^,  currency,  a  year.  In  his  preface  to  the 
first  number,  January  24,  1775,  Paine  wrote: 
"We  presume  it  is  unnecessary  to  inform  our 


THE   EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  49 

friends  that  we  encounter  all  the  inconveni- 
ences which  a  magazine  can  possibly  start 
with.  Unassisted  by  imported  materials  we 
are  destined  to  create  what  our  predecessors 
in  this  walk  had  only  to  compile ;  and  the 
present  perplexities  of  affairs  have  rendered  it 
somewhat  difficult  for  us  to  procure  the  neces- 
sary aids.  Thus  encompassed  with  difficul- 
ties, the  first  number  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Magazine  entreats  a  favorable  reception;  of 
which  we  shall  only  say,  like  the  early  snow- 
drop, it  comes  forth  in  a  barren  season,  and 
contents  itself  with  modestly  foretelling  that 
choicer  flowers  are  preparing  to  appear." 

The  vignette  of  the  Pen7tsylvania  Magazine 
represents  the  Goddess  of  Liberty,  with  a  pole 
and  a  liberty-cap,  holding  a  shield  with  the 
Pennsylvania  arms.  On  the  right  of  the 
figure  is  a  mortar  inscribed  "  The  Congress." 
In  the  foreground  is  a  plan  of  fortifications 
with  cannon  balls.  In  the  background  are 
cannon  with  battle-axes  and  pikes.  A  gorget 
with  "  Liberty  "  upon  it  is  hanging  on  a  tree, 
and  beneath  it  the  motto 

"  Juvat  in  Sylvis  habitare." 

The  magazine  had  numerous  illustrations  : 
4 


50  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

a  portrait  of  Goldsmith,  plans  of  a  threshing 
machine,  an  electrical  machine,  Donaldson's 
dredging  machine,  etc.,  etc. 

Francis  Hopkinson  and  Witherspoon  were 
among  the  earliest  contributors,  William 
Smith  and  Provost  Ewing  assisted  in  later 
numbers.  Benjamin  Rush  and  Sergeant  and 
Hutchinson  imparted  to  Paine,  in  their  walks 
in  State  House  yard  the  suggestions  of  "  Com- 
morf  Sense,"  the  pamphlet  which  "  had  a 
greater  run  than  any  other  ever  published  in 
our  country,"  and  which,  as  Elkanah  Watson 
said,  "  passed  through  the  continent  like  an 
electric  spark.  It  everywhere  flashed  convic- 
tion, and  aroused  a  determined  spirit,  which 
resulted  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
upon  the  4th  of  July  ensuing.  The  name  of 
Paine  was  precious  to  every  Whig  heart,  and 
had  resounded  throughout  Europe." 

A  department  of  the  Pennsylvania  Maga- 
zine^ called  "  Monthly  Intelligence,"  reported 
the  progress  of  the  war,  and  furnished  engrav- 
ings of  the  battles,  and  of  General  Gage's 
lines.  It  was  the  first  illustrated  magazine 
published  in  the  city.  It  was  also  the  first 
that  made  more  than  one  volume.     The  sec- 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  5  I 

ond  volume  began  In  January,  1776,  and 
ended  in  July,  1776.  The  last  number  con- 
tained the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Phillis  Wheatley,  negro  servant  to  Mr.  John 
Wheatley,  of  Boston,  and  daughter  of  an  Af- 
rican slave,  published  her  only  volume  of 
poems,  dedicated  to  the  Countess  of  Hunting- 
don, in  1773.  The  best,  if  the  word  may  be 
applied  to  such  performances,  of  her  occa- 
sional poems,  published  after  1773,  and  which 
have  never  been  collected  into  a  volume,  was 
a  poem  "To  his  Excellency  Gen.  Washing- 
ton," in  the  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  April, 
1776: 

**  Celestial  choir  !  enthron'd  in  realms  of  light, 
Columbia's  scenes  of  glorious  toils  I  write." 

The  poem  was  dated  October  26,  1775,  and 
sent  with  a  letter  to  Washington,  who  replied 
(Feb.  2,  1776) : 

**  However  undeserving  I  may  be  of  such 
encomium  and  panegyric,  the  style  and  man- 
ner exhibit  a  striking  proof  of  your  poetical 
talents ;  in  honor  of  which,  and  as  a  tribute 
justly  due  to  you,  I  would  have  published 
the  poem  had  I  not  been  apprehensive  that 
while  I  only  meant  to  give  the  world  this  new 


52  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

instance  of  your  genius,  I  might  have  incurred 
the  imputation  of  vanity.  This,  and  nothing 
less,  determined  me  not  to  give  it  place  in  the 
public  prints." 

Another  President  of  the  United  States, 
Thomas  Jefferson,  with  less  urbanity,  but 
more  acumen,  said  of  these  verses  that  they 
were  beneath  criticism.* 

Paine  himself  printed  some  virile  verses  in 
the  magazine,  notably  the  lines  "  On  the  Death 
of  Wolfe"  (though  not  published  for  the  first 
time),  signed  "  Atlanticus,"  "  Reflections  on  the 
Death  of  Clive,"  and  "  The  Liberty  Tree." 

Bradford's  magazines  had  failed  because  of 
the   imperfect    communication    between    the 

*  "  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Jefferson  has  pronounced  the  poems 
of  Phillis  Wheatley  below  the  dignity  of  criticism,  and  it  is 
seldom  safe  to  differ  in  judgment  from  the  author  of*  Notes 
on  Virginia,'  but  hor  conceptions  are  often  lofty,  and  her 
versification  often  surprises  with  unexpected  refinement. 
Ladd,  the  Carolhia  poet,  in  enumerating  the  laurels  of  his 
country,  dwells  with  encomium  on  '  Wheatley's  polished 
verse ; '  nor  is  his  praise  undeserved,  for  often  it  will  be 
found  to  glide  in  the  stream  of  melody.  Her  lines  on  im- 
agination have  been  quoted  with  rapture  by  Imlay,  of 
Kentucky,  and  Steadman,  the  Guiana  traveller,  but  I  have 
ever  thought  her  happiest  production  the  '  Goliah  of  Gath'  " 
(John  Davis,  p.  87). 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  53 

colonies.  Aitken's  magazine,  throughout  its 
life  of  eighteen  months,  is  overshadowed  by  the 
war,  and  the  grave  news  successively  reported 
from  both  sides  of  the  ocean. 

The  next  Philadelphia  editor  was  the  eccen- 
tric social  wit,  Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge, 
the  author  of  the  capital  political  satire, 
"Modern  Chivalry"  (1792),  the  first  satirical 
novel  written  in  America.  He  was  a  native  of 
Scotland,  born  in  1748,  but  was  only  five  years 
of  age  when  his  father  settled  in  York  County, 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  graduated  from  Prince- 
ton College  in  1 771,  in  the  same  class  with 
Philip  Freneau,  in  conjunction  with  whom  he 
delivered,  at  the  commencement,  a  poem  in 
dialogue  upon  "  The  Rising  Glory  of  Amer- 
ica," which  was  published  by  Robert  Aitken 
in  1772. 

Francis  Bailey  was  the  publisher  who  had 
the  courage  to  undertake  another  monthly 
magazine  in  the  midst  of  the  war,  and  with 
Brackenridge  as  editor,  which  insured  some 
pungent  writing,  he  issued  in  January,  1779, 
the  first  number  of  "  The  United  States  Maga- 
zine ;  a  Repository  of  History,  Politics  and  Lit- 
erature."    "  Our  attempt,"  said  the  editor,  "is 


54  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

to  paint  the  graces  on  the  front  of  war,  and 
invite  the  muses  to  our  countryy  This,  it  will 
be  noticed,  is  the  second  express  invitation  to 
the  Maids  of  Parnassus  to  "  migrate  from 
Greece  and  Ionia,"  and  to  "  cross  out  those 
immensely  overpaid  accounts."  The  first  was 
extended  during  the  French  and  Indian  war, 
and  the  second  in  the  very  aim  and  flash  of 
the  Revolution.  That  the  muses  did  not  im- 
mediately accept  the  invitation,  and  ''placard 
•Removed'  and  '  To  Let '  on  the  rocks  of  their 
snowy  Parnassus,"  we  are  reminded  by  the 
opening  lines  of  the  "  Epistle  to  W.  Gifford," 
written  by  another  Philadelphia  poet,  William 
Cliffton,  at  the  very  close  of  the  century.* 

"In  these  cold  shades,  beneath  these  shifting  skies, 
Where  fancy  sickens,  and  where  genius  dies ; 
Where  few  and  feeble  are  the  muse's  strains, 
And  no  fine  frenzy  riots  in  the  veins." 

The  editor,  in  his  preface  to  the  reader, 
asks  the  very  pertinent  question,  "  For  what  is 
man  without  taste,  and  the  acquirements  of 
genius  ?     An  ourang-outang  with  the  human 

*  William  Cliffton  (1772-1799)  was  the  son  of  a  black- 
smith in  Southwark.  His  poem  "The  Group"  (1793)  was 
written  in  ridicule  of  the  Commissioners  of  Southwark. 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.        55 

shape  and  the  soul  of  a  beast."  His  excuse 
for  the  magazine  is  that  it  is  started  to  refute 
the  British  scoff,  that  when  separated  from 
England,  the  colonies  would  become  mere 
"illiterate  ourang-outangs,"  and  proceeds  to  the 
axioms  that  "  We  are  able  to  cultivate  the 
belles-lettres,  even  disconnected  with  Great 
Britain  ;"  and  that  **  Liberty  is  of  so  noble  and 
energetic  a  quality,  as  even  from  the  bosom  of 
a  war  to  call  forth  the  powers  of  human  genius 
in  every  course  of  literary  fame  and  im- 
provement." 

The  vignette  for  the  magazine  was  made 
by  Pierre  E.  Du  Simitiere  (P.  E.  D.),  who  also 
made  the  one  that  adorned  the  Pennsylvania 
Magazine.  It  represented  a  triumphal  arch 
with  a  corridor  of  thirteen  columns,  the  arch 
decorated  with  thirteen  stars,  symbolizing  the 
States,  Pennsylvania  being  the  Keystone. 
Under  the  arch  is  the  figure  of  Fame,  with  cap 
of  liberty  and  trumpet. 

The  artist  was  a  native  of  Switzerland,  who 
arrived  in  Philadelphia  in  1766.  His  collec- 
tion of  curiosities  he  opened  to  the  public 
under  the  name  of  "  The  American  Museum." 

The  first  number  of  this  magazine  contained 


56  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

certain  verses  in  explanation  of  the  emblem- 
atic vignette : 

"  The  arch  high  bending  doth  convey, 
In  a  hieroglyphic  way, 
What  in  noble  style  like  this 
Our  united  empire  is  ! 
The  pillars,  which  support  the  weight, 
Are,  each  of  them,  a  mighty  State ; 
Thirteen  and  more  the  vista  shows, 
As  to  vaster  length  it  grows ; 
For  new  States  shall  added  be, 
To  the  great  confederacy. 
And  the  mighty  arch  shall  rise 
From  the  cold  Canadian  skies. 
And  shall  bend  through  heaven's  broad  way 
To  the  noble  Mexic  Bay ! 
In  the  lofty  arch  are  seen 
Stars  of  lucid  ray — thirteen ! 
When  other  States  shall  rise, 
Other  stars  shall  deck  these  skies, 
There,  in  wakeful  light  to  burn 
.O'er  the  hemisphere  of  morn," 

As  might  be  expected  from  Brackenridge's 
management,  the  magazine  was  full  of  wit  and 
scurrility.  The  January  (1779)  number  con- 
tained Witherspoon's  delightful  satire  upon 
James  Rivington,  the  Royal  Printer,  of  New 
York.  It  was  a  parody  of  Rivington's  "  Peti- 
tion to  Congress/'  and  was  called  "  The  Hum- 


THE   EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  5/ 

ble  Representation  and  Earnest  Supplication 
of  J.  R.,  Printer  and  Bookseller  in  New  York 
— To  his  Excellency  Henry  Laurens,  Esq." 
And  Dr.  Witherspoon,  who  was  President  of 
Princeton  College  when  Brackenridge  was  a 
student  there,  supplied  his  former  pupil  dur- 
ing his  year's  editorship  with  many  a  sly  sar- 
casm and  bit  of  grave  philosophy. 

**  The  Cornwalliad,  an  Heroic  Comic  Poem," 
was  begun  in  March,  1779,  and  was  continued 
through  several  numbers.  It  described  vari- 
ous incidents  in  the  British  retreat  to  New 
York  after  the  battles  of  Trenton  and  Prince- 
ton. 

In  the  January  number  was  begun  a  series 
of  articles  under  the  title  of  "  The  Cave  of 
Vanhest,"  concerning  which  the  following  let- 
ter was  written  October  2,  1779,  by  Mrs.  Sarah 
Bache  to  Benjamin  Franklin  :  '*  The  publisher 
of  The  United  States  Magazine  wrote  to  you 
some  time  ago  to  desire  you  would  send  him 
some  newspapers,  and  sent  you  some  of  his 
first  numbers.  I  suppose  you  never  received 
them.  I  now  send  six,  not  that  I  think  you 
will  find  much  entertainment  in  them,  but  you 
may  have  heard  that  there  was  such  a  per- 


58  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

formance,  and  may  like  to  see  what  it  is ;  be- 
sides, its  want  of  entertainment  may  induce 
you  to  send  something  that  may  make  the 
poor  man's  magazine  more  useful  and  pleas- 
ing. Tell  Temple  *  The  Cave  of  Vanhest ' 
is  a  very  romantic  description  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Blair's  house  and  family ;  the  young  ladies  that 
the  traveller  describes  and  is  in  love  with  are 
children,  one  seven  months  younger  than  our 
Benjamin,  and  the  Venus  just  turned  of  five." 
The  most  amusing  episode  in  the  history  of 
the  magazine  was  the  quarrel  that  arose  be- 
tween its  editor  and  General  Charles  Lee. 
Brackenridge  published  in  full,  in  Vol.  I,  p. 
141,  a  letter  written  by  *' an  officer  of  high 

rank  in  the  American  service  to  Miss  F s 

(Franks),  a  young  lady  of  this  city."  The 
letter  contained  a  humorous  challenge  grow- 
ing out  of  a  merry  war  in  which  Miss  F.  had 
said  that  "  he  wore  green  breeches  patched 
with  leather,"  and  the  writer  declared  that  he 
wore  *'  true  sherry  vallies,"  that  is,  trousers 
reaching  to  the  ankle  with  strips  of  leather  on 
the  inside  of  the  thigh.  Lee  immediately  pub- 
lished in  the  Pennsylvania  Advei'tiser  an  angry 
letter  upon  "  the  impertinence  and  stupidity 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.       59 

of  the  compiler  of  that  wretched  performance 
with  the  pompous  title  of  the  magazine  of  the 
United  States."  In  reply,  Brackenridge  com- 
pared Lee,  as  usual,  to  his  favorite  ourang- 
outang,  and  added :  "  You  are  neither  Christian, 
Jew,  Turk  nor  Infidel,  but  a  metenipsychosist ! 
You  have  been  heard  to  say  that  you  expect 
when  you  die  to  transmigrate  to  a  Siberian 
fox-hound,  and  to  be  messmate  to  Spado." 
Upon  this  Lee,  in  a  rage,  called  at  the  office 
with  the  intention  of  assaulting  the  editor. 
Brackenridge's  son  cleverly  relates  what  fol- 
lowed. General  Lee  "  knocked  at  the  door, 
while  Mr.  Brackenridge,  looking  out  of  the 
upper-story  window,  inquired  what  was  want- 
ing. '  Come  down,'  said  he,  *  and  I'll  give 
you  as  good  a  horse-whipping  as  any  rascal 
ever  received.'  *  Excuse  me,  General,'  said 
the  other,  '  I  would  not  go  down  for  two  such 
favors.'  " 

Besides  the  publication  of  the  State  Consti- 
tution and  a  windy  war  over  female  head-dress 
and  hard  money,  there  is  little  else  to  say  of 
The  United  States  Magazine.  But  near  the 
close  of  the  volume  the  appearance  of  an  imi- 
tation of  Psalm  137,  with  the  foot-note,  "by  a 


60  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES, 

young  gentleman  to  whom,  in  the  course  of 
this  work,  we  are  greatly  indebted,"  brings  for 
the  first  time  into  notice,  if  not  into  promi- 
nence, a  writer  destined  to  display  the  finest 
sense  of  poetic  form  and  the  nicest  delicacy 
of  poetic  sentiment  to  be  found  among  his  con- 
temporaries in  America,  and  who,  through  his 
opposition  to  Hamilton  and  the  Federalists, 
should  win  from  Washington  the  epithet  of 
"that  rascal  Freneau." 

Philip  Freneau  was  born  in  New  York  in 
1752;  he  had  been  a  classmate  at  Princeton 
of  James  Madison  and  Brackenridge,  and  on 
his  return  from  the  Bermudas  in  1779,  he 
assisted  the  latter  in  his  editorial  work  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  first  edition  of  his  poems  was 
prepared  in  Philadelphia  by  Francis  Bailey, 
the  publisher  of  TJie  United  States  Magazine^ 
in  1786. 

Freneau  was  one  of  the  first  American  poets 
to  be  read  and  appreciated  in  England.  At 
the  time  when  Byron  was  making  merry  with 
the  notion  of  an  American  poet  bearing  the 
name  of  Timothy  (Dwight),  Campbell  was 
appropriating  a  line,  ''The  hunter  and  the 
deer — a  shade"  from  Freneau's  "  Indian  Bury- 


THE    EIGHTEExNTH    CENTURY.  6 1 

ing  Ground,"  and  knitting  it  into  "  O'Connor's 
Child,"  and  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  "  Marmion," 
by  altering  a  single  word,  was  transparently 
concealing  his  theft  from  "  The  Heroes  of 
Eutaw." 

In  December,  1779,  the  suspension  of  the 
magazine  was  announced,  the  editor  declaring 
in  explanation  that  the  publication  was  "  un- 
dertaken at  a  time  w^hen  it  was  hoped  the  war 
would  be  of  short  continuance,  and  the  money, 
which  had  continued  to  depreciate,  would  be- 
come of  proper  value.  But  these  evils  having 
continued  to  exist  through  the  whole  year, 
it  has  been  greatly  difficult  to  carry  on  the 
publication ;  and  we  shall  now  be  under  the 
necessity  of  suspending  it  for  some  time — 
until  an  established  peace  and  a  fixed  value  of 
the  money  shall  render  it  convenient  or  pos- 
sible to  take  it  up  again." 

For  seven  years  no  one  attempted  another 
magazine,  and  then  in  September,  1786,  by  a 
combination  of  publishers,  The  Columbian 
Magazine,  or  Monthly  Miscellany,  modelled 
upon  the  Gentleman' s  Magazine  and  the  Lon- 
don Magazine,  began  its  career.  It  was  the 
most  am.bitious  enterprise  of  the  kind  that  had 
yet  been  undertaken  in  America.    The  printing 


62  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

facilities  were  still  very  limited,  and  the  sub- 
scription lists  for  all  publications  small.  In 
1 786  there  was  one  daily  paper  printed  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  but  three  or  four  weekly  ones. 
In  the  same  year  four  printers  after  much  de- 
liberation agreed  to  print  a  small  edition  of 
the  New  Testament.  "  Before  the  Revolu- 
tion a  spelling-book,  impressed  upon  brown 
paper,  with  the  interesting  figure  of  Master 
Dilworth  as  a  frontispiece,  was  the  extent  of 
American  skill  in  printing  and  engraving." 
Improvements  came  very  rapidly,  and  before 
the  end  of  the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century  Barlow's  Coliunbiad  was  magnifi- 
cently printed  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  great 
undertakings  of  Rees'  "  Cyclopaedia  "  and  Wil- 
son's "  Ornithology "  entered  upon.  The 
monthly  expense  of  printing  the  Colmnbian 
was  said  to  be  i^ioo,  which  was  paid  to  me- 
chanics and  manufacturers  of  the  United  States. 
The  magazine  was  inaugurated  by  Matthew 
Carey,  T.  Siddons,  C.  Talbot,  W.  Spotswood 
and  J.  Trenchard. 

Carey  published,  in  the  first  number,  *'  The 
Life  of  General  Greene,"  whose  portrait  was 
the  first  in  the  volume.  He  also  contributed 
"The  Shipwreck,"  "A  Philosophical  Dream" 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  63 

(a  vision  of  1850),  and  "Hard  Times."  In 
the  "  Philosophical  Dream  "  Carey  made  the 
first  suggestion  of  a  canal  to  unite  the  waters 
of  the  Delaware  and  Ohio.  He  withdrew 
from  the  Columbian  Magazine  in  December, 
1786,  finding  that  the  quintuple  team  could 
not  work  well  together. 

Charles  Cist,  another  of  the  combination, 
was  born  at  St.  Petersburg,  August  15,  1738, 
was  graduated  at  Halle,  and,  upon  coming  to 
Philadelphia  in  1773,  entered  into  partnership 
with  Melchior  Steiner,  with  whom  he  pub- 
lished Paine's  "  Crisis  " — "  These  are  the  times 
that  try  men's  souls."  He  died  in  Phijadel- 
phia,  December  2,  1805. 

John  Trenchard  became  sole  proprietor  of 
the  publication  in  January,  1789.  He  was 
an  engraver  by  profession,  having  studied 
under  James  Smithers,  and  engraved  most  of 
the  plates  for  the  magazine.  His  son,  Edward 
Trenchard,  entered  the  navy,  visited  England 
and  induced  Gilbert  Fox,  then  a  'graver's  ap- 
prentice, to  return  with  him  to  America.  In 
this  country  Fox  became  an  actor,  and  for 
him  Joseph  Hopkinson  wrote  "  Hail  Colum- 
bia." 

"  The  Foresters,  an   American   Tale,"  was 


64  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

written  for  the  Columbian  by  Jeremy  Belknap, 
who  sought  to  portray  humorously  in  it  the 
history  of  the  country  and  the  formation  of 
the  Constitution. 

The  Columbian  of  May,  1789,  gave  an 
elaborate  account  of  Washington's  progress 
to  New  York,  with  the  notable  receptions  at 
Gray's  Ferry  and  at  Trenton. 

In  July,  1790,  the  name  of  the  magazine 
was  changed  to  "  The  Universal  Asylum  and 
Columbian  Magazine,  by  a  Society  of  Gen- 
tlemen." Benjamin  Rush  was  one  of  its 
most  faithful  contributors.  A  number  of  the 
engravings  and  several  of  the  articles  illustrated 
the  agricultural  improvements  of  the  times. 
John  Penington  contributed  in  1790  "  Chemi- 
cal and  Economical  Essays  to  Illustrate  the 
Connection  between  Chemistry  and  the  Arts." 
The  editor  of  the  Columbian  Magazine  for 
nearly  three  years  was  Alexander  James 
Dallas,  a  sketch  of  whose  life  is  to  be  found 
in  a  later  magazine,  the  Port  Folio,  of  March, 
1817.  Dallas  was  born  in  Jamaica,  but  re- 
ceived his  earliest  education  near  London 
from  James  Elphinstone,  through  whom  he 
became  acquainted  with  Dr.  Johnson  and  Dr. 
Franklin.     He  became  a  citizen  of  Philadel- 


THE   EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  65 

phia  in  1785,  studied  law,  edited  the  Cohan- 
bian,  held  various  offices  of  trust  in  the  State, 
and  became  successively  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  and  Secretary  of  War  for  the  United 
States.  Robert  Charles  Dallas,  brother  of 
the  editor,  author  of  the  "  History  of  the 
Maroons  "  and  a  score  of  other  works,  is  best 
known  as  the  friend  and  counsellor  of  Lord 
Byron.  His  last  work  was  his  *'  Recollections 
of  the  Life  of  Lord  Byron  from  1808  to  1814." 
It  was  at  his  request  that  Byron  published 
"  Childe  Harold,"  and  to  him  Byron  gave  the 
profits  arising  from  that  and  four  other  of  his 
poems.  Dallas  was  related  to  Lord  Byron 
through  the  marriage  of  his  sister  with  the 
poet's  uncle.  George  Mifflin  Dallas,  son  of 
the  editor  of  the  Cohimbian,  became  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States  under  President 
Polk.  His  commencement  oration  at  Prince- 
ton, in  1809,  01^  the  "Moral  Influence  of 
Memory,"  is  printed  in  the  Port  Folio  of  that 
year  (Vol.  II,  p.  396*).     Two  members  of  the 

*  John  Quincy  Adams'  commencement  oration  "  On  the 
Importance  and  Necessity  of  Public  Faith  to  the  Well-being 
of  a  Government,"  was  inserted  in  the  Columbian  Magazine 
(1787)  by  Jeremy  Belknap. 

5 


66  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

famil}^,  Rev.  A.  R.  C.  Dallas,  son  of  Robert 
Charles,  and  his  cousin,  Rev.  Charles  Dallas, 
served  at  Waterloo,  and  were  afterward  pronrii- 
nent  in  philanthropic  work. 

A.  J.  Dallas  reported  for  the  Herald  and 
for  the  Columbian  the  debates  of  the  State 
Convention  until  the  Federalists,  annoyed  by 
the  publications,  withdrew  their  subscriptions 
from  the  Columbian^  which  led  Benjamin 
Rush  to  write  to  Noah  Webster  (February  13, 
1788):  "From  the  impudent  conduct  of  Mr. 
Dallas  in  misrepresenting  the  proceedings 
and  speeches  in  the  Pennsylvania  Convention, 
as  well  as  from  his  deficiency  of  matter,  the 
Columbian  Magazine^  of  which  he  is  editor,  is 
in  the  decline." 

Nevertheless  the  Cohnnbian  continued  to 
prosper.  The  circulation  at  times  made 
necessary  a  second  edition,  which  was  reset 
at  considerable  expense,  and  often  contained 
additional  articles. 

The  final  number  appeared  in  December, 
1792.  The  principal  motive  for  the  suspen- 
sion, the  editors  declared,  ''  is  to  be  found  in 
the  present  law  respecting  the  establishment 
of  the  post  office,  which  totally  prohibits  the 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  6/ 

circulation  of  monthly  publications  through 
that  channel  on  any  other  terms  than  that  of 
paying  the  highest  postage  on  private  letters 
or  packages."  A  futile  attempt  was  made  to 
continue  the  magazine  in  January,  1793,  under 
the  title,  ''The  Columbian  Musetim,  or  Universal 
Asyhim:  John  Parker,  Phila."  The  only 
number  that  I  have  seen  contains  sixty  pages. 
In  January,  1787,  or  one  month  after  with- 
drawing from  the  management  of  The  Colum- 
bian Magazine^  Matthew  Carey  published  the 
first  number  of  The  American  Museum,  or 
Repository  of  Ancieitt  and  Modern  Fugitive 
Pieces,  etc.,  Prose  and  Poetical,  which  proved 
to  be  the  first  really  successful  literary  un- 
dertaking of  the  kind  in  America.  General 
Washington  said  of  it  in  a  letter  dated  June 
25,  1788:  "No  more  useful  literary  plan  has 
ever  been  undertaken  in  America."  John 
Dickinson  in  the  same  year  also  commended 
it.  Governor  Wm.  Livingstone  wrote :  **  It 
far  exceeds  in  my  opinion  eveiy  attempt  of 
the  kind  which  from  any  other  American 
press  ever  came  into  my  hands."  Among 
others  who  swelled  the  chorus  of  praise  were 
Governor  Randolph  of  Virginia,  Ezra  Stiles 


68  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

of  Yale,  Timothy  Dwight,  Francis  Hopkinson 
and  Provost  Ewing.  "Citizen"  Brissot,  in 
his  "  New  Travels  in  the  United  States " 
(1788),  considered  Carey's  Museum  to  be 
"  equal  to  the  best  periodical  published  in 
Europe."  The  first  number  attracted  great 
attention  ;  Franklin  furnished  the  first  article, 
•*  Consolation  for  America;"  Benjamin  Rush 
followed  with  an  *'  Address  to  the  People  of 
the  United  States,"*  the  burden  of  which  was 
that  the  "  Revolution  is  not  over ; "  already 
the  cry  was  going  up  for  civil  service  reform 
to  deliver  the  country  from  the  oppression  of 
politics.  The  edition — one  thousand  copies 
— was  soon  exhausted.  "  I  had  not  means," 
said  Carey,  "  to  reprint  it  This  was  a  very 
serious  injury,  many  persons  who  intended  to 
subscribe  declining  because  I  could  not  fur- 
nish them  the  whole  of  the  numbers." 

The  work  of  editorship  was  no  novelty  to 
Matthew  Carey.  He  had  had  full  and  fiery 
experience  in  both  Ireland  and  America.  He 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  1760,  and  became  ac- 

*  Benjamin  Rush's  papers  in  the  Museum  and  in  the 
Columbian  were  printed  in  book  form,  "  Essays — Literary, 
Moral  and  Philosophical,"  1798. 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  6g 

quainted  with  Dr.  Franklin  in  Paris  while 
living  there  to  avoid  prosecution  at  home. 
He  was  imprisoned  for  the  publication  of  the 
Volunteer' s  Journal  \xi  Dublin.  He  arrived  in 
Philadelphia,  November  15,  1784,  and  in  the 
following  January  began  to  publish  the  Penn- 
sylvania Eveiiing  Herald,  the  first  newspaper 
in  the  United  States  to  furnish  accurate  re- 
ports of  legislative  debates.  He  was  wretch- 
edly poor,  but  Lafayette  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  fortune  by  a  generous  gift  of  four  hun- 
dred dollars  in  notes  of  the  Bank  of  North 
America.  The  first  pamphlet  that  Carey  pub- 
lished in  Ireland  was  a  treatise  on  duelling. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  in  America  he  eave  a 
practical  illustration  of  the  text  by  engaging 
in  a  duel  with  Colonel  Oswald,  in  which  he 
received  a  wound  that  stayed  him  at  home 
for  more  than  a  year. 

The  American  Museum  was  the  first  maga- 
zine in  Philadelphia  to  reflect  faithfully  the 
internal  state  of  America.  Bradford's  maga- 
zines, intensely  loyal,  looked  across  the  ocean 
and  saw  little  at  home  worthy  of  record. 
Paine  and  Brackenridge  expended  their  erratic 
genius  in  abusive  satire  upon  the  Tories ;  the 


70  PHILADELPHIA   MAGAZINES. 

Columbia7i  Magazhie  avoided  the  serious  po- 
litical problems  of  the  times,  and  granted 
much  of  its  space  to  agricultural  improve- 
ments and  the  beginnings  of  manufactures. 

In  almost  every  page,  however,  of  the 
Museum  the  reader  catches  glimpses  of  the 
anxieties  and  disorders  of  the  critical  years  of 
party  strife  that  attended  the  making  and 
adoption  of  the  Constitution.  The  social 
order  was  weak,  there  was  a  general  revolt 
against  taxation.  *'I  am  uneasy  and  appre- 
hensive, more  so  than  during  the  war,"  wrote 
Jay  to  Washington,  June  27,  1786.  David 
Humphreys,  one  of  the  "  Hartford  Wits," 
who  came  into  prominence  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  who  at  this  time  (1786)  was  engaged 
in  the  composition  of  the  Anarchiad  and 
other  satirical  verse,  aimed  at  the  disorder  of 
the  time,  contributed  to  The  Museum  his  poem 
on  the  "  Happiness  of  America."  Francis 
Hopkinson's  gentle  prose  satires  and  his 
poems  of  revolutionary  incidents  reappeared  in 
its  pages.  Anthony  Benezet  uttered  his  oft- 
repeated  protest  against  the  iniquity  of  slavery. 
Philip  Freneau's  odes  found  place  almost 
monthly   in    the    poet's    corner.       Through 


THE    EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  7 1 

several  numbers  ran  a  series  of  articles,  though 
not  for  the  first  time  published,  **  On  the 
Character  of  Philadelphians,"  signed  Tamoc 
Caspipina,  the  pseudonym  of  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Duche,  brother-in-law  of  Francis  Hopkinson, 
and  derived  from  the  initial  letters  of  his  title 
as  "  the  assistant  minister  of  Christ's  Church 
and  St.  Peter's  in  Philadelphia,  in  North 
America." 

I  cull  from  volume  five  a  few  specimen 
articles  to  illustrate  the  wealth  of  local  and 
national  history  embedded  in  this  popular 
periodical : 

Vol.  V,  p.  185. — Report  on  the  petition  of 
Hallam  and  Henry  to  license  a  theatre  in 
Philadelphia, 

P.  197. — Account  of  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill. 

P.  220. — Letters  of  "James  Littlejohn" — 
i.e.,  Timothy  Dwight. 

P.  233. — Franklin  on  food. 

P.  235. — Duche's  Description  of  Philadel- 
phia. 

P.  263. — Insurrection  in  New  Hampshire. 

P.  293. — Dr.  Franklin's  Prussian  Edict. 

P.  295. — Impartial  Chronicle,  by  W.  Liv- 
ingstone. 


72  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

P.  300. — Poetical  address  to  Washington, 
by  Governor  Livingstone. 

P.  363. — Earthquake  in  New  England. 

P.  400. — Battle  of  Long  Island. 

P.  473. — Franklin's  idea  of  an  English 
school. 

P.  488. — "  How  to  Conduct  a  Newspaper," 
—Dr.  Rush. 

The  same  cause  that  led  to  the  suspension 
of  the  Columbian  Magazine  put  a  period  also 
to  the  American  Museum^  and  in  the  same 
month.  On  December  31,  1792,  Matthew 
Carey,  in  bidding  farewell  to  the  public  that 
had  supported  his  undertaking,  ascribed  its 
failure  to  "  the  construction,  whether  right  or 
wrong,  of  the  late  Post-Office  law,  by  which 
the  postmaster  here  has  absolutely  refused  to 
receive  the  Musetim  into  the  Post-Office  on 
any  terms."  Although  the  circulation  of  the 
magazine  had  been  large  for  those  days,  the 
publisher  had  derived  small  profit  from  his 
venture.  The  subscription  price,  ^2.40  per 
annum  for  two  volumes,  making  together 
more  than  one  thousand  pages,  was  too  low ; 
and  during  the  six  years,  between  1786  and 
1792,    Carey    was    always   poor,   and   in    his 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.        73 

A2itolfW£-rap/iy  declares  that  during  those  years 
he  was  never  at  any  one  time  the  possessor  of 
four  hundred  dollars.  But  in  those  years  of 
personal  penury  and  public  turmoil,  Matthew 
Carey  laid  the  foundation  of  the  American 
system  of  social  science. 

Six  years  after  the  suspension  of  the  maga- 
zine, Carey  attempted  to  re-animate  it,  and 
published  T/ie  A7Herican  Mziseiim,  or  Annual 
Register  of  Fugitive  Pieces^  Ancient  and  Modern, 
for  the  year  1798,  printed  for  Matthew  Carey. 
Philadelphia  :  W.  &  R.  Dickson,  Lancaster. 
Matthew  Carey,  whose  introduction  was  dated 
June  20,  1799,  wrote  of  the  renascent  publica- 
tion, **  If  this  coup  d'essai  be  favorably  re- 
ceived, I  shall  publish  a  continuation  of  it 
yearly."     No  other  volume  was  ever  issued. 

The  Medical  Examiner  was  published  in 
1787,  and  made  one  volume  octavo  of  424 
pages.     It  was  edited  by  J.  B.  Biddle. 

The  Philadelphia  Magazine,  the  first  that 
ever  bore  the  name  of  the  city,  made  two 
volumes.  The  first  volume  extended  from 
February  to  December,  1788,  and  contained 
448  pages.  The  second  volume  began  in 
January,  1789,  and  closed  in  November  of  the 


74  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

same  year  (416  pages).  The  magazine  is  said 
to  have  been  edited  by  Elhanan  Winchester. 
His  "  Lectures  on  Prophecies  "  are  bound  up 
with  the  second  volume  of  the  periodical. 
The  lectures  were  originally  issued  in  each 
volume. 

The  Anninian  Magazine ^  Vol.  I,  1789,  pp. 
600;  Vol.  II,  1790,  pp.  620,  was  published 
by  Prichard  and  Hall,  in  Market  Street,  and 
was  edited  by  John  Dickins,  the  scholarly 
pastor  of  the  church  that  he  named  the 
"  Methodist  Episcopal." 

In  magazines  addressed  to  women,  Phila- 
delphia has  always  been  fertile  and  success- 
ful. "  The  first  attempt  of  the  kind  made  in 
this  country "  was  *'  The  Lady's  Magazine 
and  Repository  of  Entertaining  Knowledge,  Vol. 
I,  for  1792.  By  a  Literary  Society.  Phila- 
delphia :*  W.  Gibbons,  North  Third  Street, 
No.  144." 

The  motto  chosen  by  the  editors  was  "  the 
mind  t'  improve  and  yet  amuse;"  and  the  fair 
sex,  who  are  supposed  to  have  received  the 
proposals  for  the  work  with  '*  extraordinary 
marks  of  applause,"  are  assured  that  "  the 
greatest    deference    shall    be    paid    to   their 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  75 

literary  communications,"  and  they  are  prom- 
ised month  by  month  offerings  of  "  the 
most  lively  prose  and  pathetic  verse!' 

The  magazine  contains  anecdotes,  poems, 
female  correspondence,  similitude  between  the 
Egyptians  and  Abyssinians,  manners  and 
customs  of  the  Egyptians,  schemes  for  in- 
creasing the  power  of  the  fair  sex,  essays  on 
ladies'  feet,  etc.,  etc.  It  began  June,  1792, 
and  lived  until  May,  1793. 

The  Philadelphia  Minerva  was  filled  with 
old  and  new  fugitive  pieces.  It  was  published 
weekly  by  W.  T.  Palmer,  at  No.  18  North 
Third  Street,  beginning  in  1795  and  ceasing 
in  July,  1798. 

The  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  of  the  very 
slightest  significance,  was  issued  in  1795,  and 
made  one  volume. 

The  American  Monthly  Review  or  Lit- 
erary Journal.  Jan.-Aug.,  1795.  Phila. : 
S.[amuel]  H.[arrison]  Smith. 

The  American  Annual  Register,  or  Historical 
Memoirs  of  the  U?tited  States,  made  one  volume 
in  1796. 

The  Literary  Museum^  or  Monthly  Magazine. 
Jan.-June,   1797.     "Printed  by    Derrick    and 


76  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Sharpies,  and  sold  by  the  principal  book- 
sellers in  Phila.  Price,  one  quarter  of  a 
dollar." 

The  Methodist  Magazine  was  founded  by- 
John  Dickinsin  January,  1797,  and  was  edited 
by  him  until  his  death,  in  1 798  (September  27). 
It  was  printed  by  Henry  Tuckness.  It  was 
chiefly  made  up  of  sermons. 

The  Americari  Universal  Magazine  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  selections  from  other  peri- 
odicals. The  first  volume  began  Monday, 
January  2,  1797,  and  was  completed  March 
20,  1797.  It  was  embellished  with  Du  Simi- 
tiere's  portrait  of  William  Penn.  It  was 
*'  printed  by  S.[amuel]  H.[arrison]  Smith  for 
Richard  Lee,  No.  131  Chestnut  Street."  It 
was  commenced  as  a  weekly  journal,  but 
after  January  23  it  was  published  biweekly. 
After  February  6  it  was  printed  by  Budd  and 
Bartram,  and  contained  frequent  articles  favor- 
ing the  abolition  of  slavery.  It  was  taken 
in  hand  by  new  printers  on  March  6,  and  sent 
out  by  Snowden  and  McCorkle. 

The  second  volume  ran  from  April  3  to 
June  13,  and  was  printed  by  the  proprietor, 
Richard  Lee,  at  No.  4  Chestnut  Street. 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  JJ 

The  third  volume,  July  lo,  to  November 
15,  1797,  informed  the  patrons  of  the  publica- 
tion that  the  editor  "  would  be  assisted  by  a 
gentleman  whose  literary  abilities  have  been 
frequently  sanctioned  by  public  approbation." 
It  was  printed  by  **  Samuel  H.  Smith  and 
Thomas  Smith." 

The  fourth  volume,  with  which  the  publica- 
tion ended,  lived  from  December  5,  1797,  to 
March  7,  1798. 

Philadelphia,  in  1793,  had  been  visited  by 
the  terrible  scourge  of  yellow  fever.  In  1798 
the  pestilence  returned,  and  repeated  in  Phila- 
delphia the  horrors  recorded  of  London  in 
the  previous  century. 

During  this  year  certain  magazines  were 
published  in  the  city  that  may  almost  be 
called  journals  of  the  plague. 

The  Philadelphia  Monthly  Magazine,  or  Uni- 
versal Repository  of  Knowledge  and  Entertain- 
me7it,  was  begun  in  January,  1798,  and  printed 
for  Thomas  Condie,  stationer  in  Carter's  Alley 
(No.  20).  It  lasted  through  the  year,  and 
made  two  volumes.  The  publishers  appended 
to  the  second  volume  "A  History  of  the 
Pestilence,    commonly    called  Yellow   Fever, 


78  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

which  ahiiost  desolated  Philadelphia  in  the 
months  of  August,  September  and  October, 
1798.  By  Thomas  Condie  and  Richard  Fol- 
well."  The  history  contains  108  pages,  an 
appendix  of  3 1  pages,  and  a  list  of  all  the 
names  of  those  who  died  of  the  fever — 3,521 
in  all.  In  the  month  of  September  alone 
2,004  persons  died  of  the  plague,  being  one  in 
every  twenty-five  of  the  total  population. 

This  magazine  contained  the  first  long  bio- 
graphical sketch  of  Washington.  The  "  Me- 
moirs of  George  Washington,  Esq.,  Late 
President  of  the  U.  S.,"  ran  through  the 
months  of  January,  February,  March,  May 
and  June,  1798. 

It  is  in  this  magazine  that  we  find  the 
earliest  notice  of  Mrs.  Merry,  who  was  the 
first  eminent  actress  that  crossed  the  ocean. 
"  Biographical  Anecdotes  of  Mrs.  Merry  of 
the  theatre,  Philadelphia,  by  Thomas  Condie," 
April,  1798  (Vol.  I,  p.  187).  With  a  reputa- 
tion in  England  second  only  to  Mrs.  Siddons, 
this  brilliant  actress  was  added  to  the  Ameri- 
can stage  by  Mr.  Wignal,  of  the  Philadelphia 
Theatre,  who  had  gone  abroad  in  1796  to  re- 
cruit his  company  and,  if  possible,  to  engage 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.       79 

some  first-rate  actors  in  London.  Mrs.  Merry 
arrived  at  New  York  in  October,  1796,  and 
made  her  first  appearance  in  the  Western 
World  in  December  in  the  character  of  Juliet. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  John  Brunton,  of  the 
Norwich  Theatre,  and  the  wife  of  "  Delia 
Crusca"  Merry,  the  well-known  playwright 
and  author. 

The  Weekly  Magazine  of  Original  Essays, 
Fugitive  Pieces  and  Interesting  Intelligence, 
was  begun  February  3,  1798.  It  was  con- 
ducted by  James  Watters,  of  Willing's  Alley, 
a  young  man  who  was  the  manager  for  Dob- 
son's  American  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica.  The  first  article  in  the  periodical 
introduces  us  to  the  first  professional  man  of 
letters  in  America.  It  is  "  The  Man  at  Home," 
by  Charles  Brockden  Brown.  Although  un- 
signed, no  one  familiar  with  Brown's  style 
could  read  a  page  without  discerning  him  in 
the  short  snap-shot  sentences  of  the  story. 
On  page  228  of  the  first  volume  three  pages 
of  the  "Sky- Walk"  are  **  extracted  from 
Brown's  MSS."  The  singular  title  of  this 
unfinished  story,  which  was  afterward  woven 
into  the  web  of  "  Edgar  Huntley/'  seems  to 


80  PHILADELPHIA   MAGAZINES. 

have  been  as  puzzling  to  readers  then  as  now, 
and  it  is  explained  in  a  stray  note  on  page 
318  of  the  magazine  as  **a  popular  corruption 
of  Ski-Wakkee,  or  Big  Spring,  the  name  given 
by  the  Lenni  Lennaffee  (sic)  or  Delaware 
Indians  to  the  district  where  the  principal 
scenes  of  this  novel  are  transacted."  "The 
Man  at  Home  "  ran  through  thirteen  numbers 
of  the  first  volume,  which  closed  on  April  28. 

In  the  second  volume  (page  193)  Brown 
commenced  the  publication  of  his  first  im- 
portant novel,  ''  Arthur  Mervyn,  or  Memoirs 
of  the  Year  1793,"  the  first  chapter  of  which 
appeared  June  16,  1798.  It  contained  vivid 
descriptions  of  the  scenes  during  the  pestilence 
of  1793-8.  Brown's  genius  naturally  dealt 
with  weird  and  sombre  subjects  and  extraor- 
dinary passions  and  experiences.  While  oc- 
cupied with  this  romantic  narrative  of  the 
horrors  of  the  plague,  his  intimate  friend, 
EHhu  Hubbard  Smith,  who  had  introduced 
him  to  the  "  Friendly  Club,"  in  New  York, 
died  of  the  fever,  and  his  own  life  was  for  a 
time  in  danger  by  it. 

The  third  volume  of  the  magazine  (August 
4,  1798-April  6,  1799)  was  printed  by  Ezekiel 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  8 1 

Forman,  the  young  and  gifted  editor,  James 
Watters,  having  died  of  the  fever.  A  com- 
memorative note  of  the  stricken  editor  is  to 
be  found  in  the  number  bearing  date  February 
2,  1/99  (page  129). 

In  consequence  of  Watters'  death,  no  num- 
ber of  the  magazine  was  published  between 
August  25,  1798,  and  February  9,  1799.  The 
property  was  then  bought  from  the  late  edi- 
tor's mother,  and  was  continued  until  June  i, 
1799,  when  it  came  abruptly  to  an  end,  leav- 
ing the  fourth  volume  unfinished  and  with 
only  256  pages. 

The  Weekly  Magazine  had  carried  upon  its 
covers  in  1798  a  proposal  to  publish  the  novel, 
"  Sky  Walk,  or  the  Man  Unknov/n  to  Him- 
self," a  few  pages  of  which  had  been  given  in 
the  magazine.  The  manuscript  was  known 
to  be  with  James  Watters,  but  its  fate  is  un- 
known ;  it  probably  was  destroyed  with  the 
rest  of  the  unfortunate  editor's  papers. 

One  other  Philadelphia  publication  was  ter- 
minated in  consequence  of  the  plague,  which, 
although  properly  classified  as  a  newspaper, 
is  yet  of  so  much  literary  and  historical  in- 
terest that  it  would  seem  to  deserve  a  place  in 
6 


82  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

this  narrative.  Porcttpine's  Gazette  and  United 
States  Daily  Advertiser  ^ixs  published  by  Will- 
iam Cobbett  on  Second  Street,  opposite  Christ 
Church.  It  was  first  issued  on  Saturday  even- 
ing, March  4,  1797.  Up  to  that  time  no  such 
cut  and  thrust  weapon  had  been  seen  in 
America,  and  no  such  truculent  foul-mouthed 
editor  had  plucked  a  pen  out  of  his  pilcher 
by  the  ears  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  We 
had  known  editors  who  were  learned  in  pro- 
fanity and  gifted  in  vulgarity,  but  none  that 
had  just  such  a  bitter  trick  of  invective  as 
William  Cobbett,  or  "  Peter  Porcupine,"  as  he 
was  pleased  to  call  himself  He  was  born  at 
Farnham,  in  Surrey,  in  1762,  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  Sir  William  Temple's  Moor  Park, 
where  lived  for  ten  years  the  greatest  master 
of  virile  and  virulent  English  in  all  the  long 
annals  of  our  literature.  It  is  a  curious  coin- 
cidence that  the  first  book  that  fell  into  the 
well-nigh  penniless  hands  of  Cobbett  was 
"  The  Tale  of  a  Tub,'*  and  in  it  he  discovered 
and  appropriated  the  secret  of  Jonathan  Swift's 
burning  English. 

In  Philadelphia,  Cobbett  advocated  the  ex- 
tremest  Tory  principles,  and    requested   the 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY.  S^ 

contributors  to  his  paper,  "  whether  they  write 
on  their  business  or  mine,  to  pay  the  postage, 
and  place  it  to  my  account.  This  is  a  regu- 
lation I  have  been  obliged  to  adopt  to  disap- 
point certain  Democratic  blackguards,  who,  to 
gratify  their  impotent  malice  and  put  me  to 
expense,  send  me  loving  epistles  full  of  curses 
and  bawdry." 

During  the  prevalence  of  the  plague,  Cob- 
bctt  ejected  his  venomous  superfluity  upon 
Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  comparing  him  to  Doc- 
tor Sangrado,  in  Gil  Bias,  because  he  advo- 
cated blood-letting  as  a  remedy  for  the  fever. 
Rush,  stung  into  retaliation,  sued  Cobbett, 
and  recovered  from  him  five  thousand  dollars. 
This,  together  with  an  additional  three  thou- 
sand dollars,  the  cost  of  the  suit,  ruined  Cob- 
bett, and  he  removed  to  Bustleton,  August 
29,  1799,  where  he  continued  for  a  short  time 
to  publish  his  "  Gazette^'  weekly.  The  last 
barbed  arrow,  quivering  with  scorn,  was  fired 
from  Bustleton,  January  13,  1800,  and  the  au- 
thor returned  to  England. 

Cobbett  also  published,  in  Philadelphia,  The 
Political  Censor,  or  MontJily  Review,  which 
lasted  from  March,  1796,  to  March,  1797. 


84  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

A  German  magazine  was  published  in  Phil- 
adelphia, in  1798:  PJiiladelphisches  Magazin 
fur  die  deiitschen  in  Amerika.  Philadelphia  : 
H.  and  J.  R.  Kammerer. 

The  Dessert  to  the  True  American  measures 
a  year  from  July,  1798  to  July,  1799. 

The  last  magazine  published  in  Philadelphia 
in  the  eighteenth  century  was  the  Philadelphia 
Magazine  ajid  Reviezv,  or  Monthly  Repository 
of  hiformation  and  Amusement.  It  was  begun 
in  January,  1799,  and  printed  for  Benjamin 
Davies,  68  High  Street.  In  announcing  this 
work,  the  editor  alluded  to  the  unsuccess  that 
had  attended  all  efforts  to  establish  magazines 
in  Philadelphia,  and  he  believed  the  cause  to 
be  the  spurious  patriotism  that  led  the  editors 
to  reject  whatever  was  not  of  native  produc- 
tion. The  magazine  was  strongly  "anti-Galli- 
can  "  in  character.  It  closed  its  career  with 
its  first  volume. 

I  have  made  no  mention  in  this  necessarily 
incomplete  enumeration  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 
ury magazines  of  an  early  religious  publica- 
tion, The  Royal  Spiritual  Magazine,  by  Joseph 
Crukshank,  8vo,  1771.  A  few  stray  numbers 
exist,  but  I  have  never  seen  a  copy  of  it. 
How  long  it  was  published  I  do  not  know. 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.        85 

Christopher  Sauer  printed,  at  irregular  in- 
tervals, in  1764,  the  Geistliches  Magazien. 
There  are  fifty  numbers  in  the  first  volume. 
Sauer  cast  his  own  type,  and  this  magazine 
is  therefore  printed,  as  he  himself  says  on 
page  136  of  the  second  volume,  with  the  first 
type  made  in  America. 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY, 


THE   PORT     FOLIO. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  Philadel- 
phia was  the  most  attractive  city  in  America 
to  a  young  man  of  brains  and  ambition.  It 
was  the  seat  of  an  active  social,  political  and 
Hterary  Hfe.  Poet  George  Webbe  noticed  in 
1728  the  leadership  of  Philadelphia  in  all  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  the  higher  life  of  the  coun- 
try, and  prdphesied : 

Rome  shall  lament  her  ancient  fame  declined, 
And  Philadelphia  be  the  Athens  of  mankind. 

General  Lee  might  petulantly  exclaim  in  1779, 
"  Philadelphia  is  not  an  Athens,"  and  Neal 
might  write  in  Blackwood's  Magazine  that  the 
Philadelphians  were  ''  mutton-headed  Athe- 
nians," but  the  name  became  a  favorite  one 
with  which  to  characterize  the  thriving  Penn- 
sylvania town  which  exercised  such  sovereign 
sway  and  masterdom  over  its  sister  cities. 
Benjamin  West,  in  a  letter  to  Charles  Willson 
(86) 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  8/ 

Peale  (September  19,  1809),  predicts  that 
Philadelphia  will  in  time  "  become  the  seat  of 
refinement  in  all  accomplishments  ....  the 
Athens  of  the  Western  Empire."  Harrison 
Hall  and  the  gentlemen  who  published  and 
maintained  the  Port  Folio  always  styled  Phila- 
delphia the  ''Athens  of  America." 

As  the  capital  of  the  government  it  was  the 
centre  of  wealth  and  fashion.  Fine  old  man- 
sions and  gardens  adorned  Chestnut  and  High 
Streets ;  Judge  Tilghman  in  the  Carpenter 
Mansion,  Israel  Pemberton  in  Clarke  Hall, 
Thomas  Willing,  the  merchant  prince,  at 
Third  and  Walnut,  and  his  partner,  Robert 
JMorris,  at  Sixth  and  High  Streets,  Edward 
Shippen  at  Fourth  and  Walnut,  the  Norris 
family  in  their  home  upon  the  site  of  the  U. 
S.  Bank  and  Custom  House,  and  in  their  great 
mansion  at  Fair  Hill,  the  Hamiltons  at  Bush 
Hill  and  the  Woodlands,  dispensed  lavish  hos- 
pitality. 

William  Bingham,  father-in-law  of  the  emi- 
nent banker  Alexander  Baring,  who  was  after- 
wards Lord  Ashburton,  entertained  in  grand 
style.  General  Washington  drove  out  from 
the  Morris  mansion  along  the  unpaved  streets 


8  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

south  of  Chestnut  Street  in  a  coach  drawn  by 
six  horses  and  attended  by  two  footmen.  In  his 
stables  on  Minor  Street  was  a  stud  of  twelve 
or  fourteen  horses.  General  John  Cadwalla- 
der,  father-in-law  of  the  second  Lord  Erskine, 
in  his  great  house  at  Second  and  Spruce,  made 
liberal  use  of  his  immense  fortune. 

In  the  first  year  of  this  century  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  which  had  played  so  great 
a  part  in  the  Revolution,  and  to  which  Louis 
XVI  had,  in  1786,  made  so  generous  a  dona- 
tion, was  removed  to  its  new  home  in  the  spa- 
cious buildings  erected  for  the  executive  man- 
sion. The  Philadelphia  Library,  which  had 
been  Franklin's  first  scheme  for  public  im- 
provement, and  which  had  been  enriched  by 
the  generous  gifts  of  James  Logan,  was  fur- 
nishing such  opportunities  for  literary  work 
as  were  unknown  elsewhere.  John  Quincy 
Adams  sought  in  vain  to  cultivate  in  Boston 
the  ''  Wistar  parties"  that  Caspar  Wistar  had 
made  so  famous  in  Philadelphia.  One  hun- 
dred years  ago  there  was  only  one  scientific 
foundation  within  this  Republic  that  was  not 
in  Philadelphia,  and  that  was  the  American 
Academy  in  Boston.  The  American  Philosoph- 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  89 

ical  Society  in  its  venerable  hall  in  State 
House  Yard  numbered  Presidents  Washing- 
ton, Jefferson  and  Adams  among  its  members. 
The  best  scholars  of  Europe  and  America  read 
its  **  Transactions  "  or  contributed  to  its  *'  Pro- 
ceedings." From  his  private  observatory 
David  Rittenhouse  made  the  earliest  astronom- 
ical observations  in  this  country,  and  rested 
his  transit  instrument  upon  the  ancient  stanch- 
ions that  still  maintain  their  place  in  the 
Philosophical  Society  window  looking  out 
upon  the  fine  old  trees  planted  by  the  father 
of  John  Vaughan,  secretary  and  librarian  of 
the  society.  The  only  Natural  History 
Museum  in  this  country  was  opened  in  1802 
at  Third  and  Lombard  by  Charles  Willson 
Peale ;  and  far  out  on  the  Schuylkill  at  Gray's 
Ferry,  John  Bartram,  whom  Linnaeus  called 
"  the  greatest  natural  botanist  of  the  world," 
had  planted  the  first  botanic  garden. 

The  number  of  foreign  exiles  who  at  this 
time  were  moving  in  Philadelphia  society 
gave  a  cosmopolitan  character  to  the  city,  and 
lent  to  it  the  air  of  foreign  capitals.  Talley- 
rand, Beaumais,  Vicomte  de  Noailles  and  his 
brother-in-law  Lafayette,  Volney,  the  Due  de 


90  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Liancourt,  and  General  Moreau,  and  at  a  later 
date  Joseph  Bonaparte  and  Murat,  were  but  a 
few  of  the  distinguished  members  of  the 
"  French  colony." 

Joseph  Dennie,  the  most  interesting  figure 
among  American  editors,  came  to  Philadel- 
phia in  1799  as  clerk  to  Timothy  Pickering, 
who  was  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  his  bril- 
liant social  qualities  soon  won  him  recogni- 
tion in  the  city.  "  The  American  Addison  " 
he  was  called  then,  a  title  he  had  won  by  the 
easy  grace  and  pleasing  melody  of  his  style.* 
He  was  born  in  Boston,  August  30,  1768,  and 
was  sent  to  Harvard  College,  where  he  proved 
a  jibbing  pupil,  and  was  rusticated  for  a  term 
of  six  months.  He  industriously  read  all  the 
books  that  were  proscribed  by  the  Faculty,  and 
ignored  those  studies  that  were  recommended 
to  him.     His  was  a  brilliant  but  undisciplined 

*  When  British  reviewers  styled  Dennie  "  the  American 
Addison,''  the  Aurora  Gazette  broke  forth  into  the  following 
horse-laugh  :  "  Exult,  ye  white  hills  of  New  Hampshire,  re- 
doubtable Monadnock  and  Tuckaway !  Laugh,  ye  waters 
of  the  Winiseopee  and  LTmbagog  Lakes  !  Flow  smooth  in 
heroic  verse,  ye  streams  of  Amorioosack  and  Androscoggin, 
Cockhoko  and   Coritocook !     And  you,  merry  Merrimack,  be 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  9 1 

mind,  strongly  independent,  impetuous,  fond 
of  contradiction,  full  of  surprises,  "  studious 
of  change  and  fond  of  novelty,"  as  he  often 
defined  himself  Soon  after  beginning  the 
study  of  law,  Dennie  wrote,  "  In  the  infancy  of 
a  profession  'tis  chimerical  to  talk  of  undevi- 
ating  integrity.  Let  hair-brained  enthusiasts 
prate  in  tJicir  closets  as  loudly  as  they  please 
to  the  contrary,  a  young  adventurer  in  any 
walk  of  life  must  take  advantage  of  the  events 
and  weaknesses  of  his  fellow-mortals,  or  be 
content  to  munch  turnip  in  a  cell  amidst 
want  and  obscurity."  Of  course,  all  this  is 
very  outrageous,  but  altogether  what  we 
should  expect  from  such  "  unimproved  mettle, 
hot  and  full."  He  abandoned  the  law,  and  was 
among  the  first  men  in  America  to  devote 
himself  to  literature. 

His  first  experience  in  journalism  was  as 
editor  of  the  Tablet  in  Boston,  May  19,  1795. 
The  paper  lived  just  thirteen  weeks. 

Dennie  next  tried  his  Bohemian  fortunes  in 
Walpole,  N.  H.,  and  contributed  to  the  Farm- 
er's Weekly  Miisettin^  a  good  and  popular 
journal  that  had  been  founded  in  1790,  the 
papers   entitled  '*  The    Lay    Preacher,"  upon 


92  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

which  rests  his  literary  fame.  Of  this  maga- 
zine he  became  editor  in  1796,  and  at  once 
gathered  about  him  a  number  of  noble  swel- 
ling spirits  who  contributed  racy  and  original 
reading  to  the  "  Farmer's  "  subscribers.* 

The  publisher  became  bankrupt  in  1798, 
and  Dennie  pilgrimaged  to  Philadelphia,  with- 
out fortune  and  without  a  patron.  His  ser- 
vice under  Pickering  was  of  short  duration. 

In  connection  with  Asbury  Dickins,  a  son  of 
John  Dickins  of  the  MetJiodist  Magazine^  he 
began,  January  3,  1801,  the  publication  of  the 
Port  Folio,  by  Oliver  Oldschool,  Esq.,  the  best 
of  Philadelphia  magazines,  which  he  contin- 
ued to  edit  until  his  death,  in  18 12.  Dennie's 
strong  personality  and  engaging  qualities  ot 
mind  and  heart  attracted  attention,  and  made 

*  Dennie  always  remained  faithful  to  his  New  England 
friends.  T.  G.  Fessenden  had  been  one  of  the  contributors 
to  the  Farmer's  Museum ;  when  his  "  Terrible  Tractora- 
tion"  appeared,  Dennie  wrote  to  the  Port  Folio,  "  To  Con- 
necticut men  studious  either  of  Hudibrastic  or  solemn  poetry, 
we  look  with  eager  eyes  for  the  most  successful  specimens  of 
the  inspiration  of  the  Muse."  Fessenden  was  the  last  to 
maintain  the  fame  of  the  *'  Hartford  Wits ;"  and  the  glory 
of  "  McFingal,"  and  "  The  Conquest  of  Canaan  "  and  the 
"Anarchiad,"  and  the  "  Political  Greenhouse"  and  "The 
Echo  "  faded  with  the  failing  of  the  Farmer'' s  Museum. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  93 

him  many  friends.  With  genuine  editorial 
tact  and  skill  he  drew  to  himself  all  the  liter- 
ary ability  of  the  city,  which  was  then  '*  the 
largest  and  most  literary  and  most  intellectu- 
ally accomplished  city  in  the  Union,"  to  quote 
the  words  of  a  later  editor  of  the  Port  Folio, 
Dr.  Charles  Caldwell.  There  was  scarcely  a 
more  picturesque  figure  in  Philadelphia  in 
the  first  decade  of  this  century  than  that  pre- 
sented by  the  editor  of  the  Port  Folio.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  go  to  London  and  to 
Oliver  Goldsmith  to  find  another  to  outshine 
this  Oliver  Oldschool  as  Buckingham  saw 
him  slipping  along  Chestnut  Street  to  his 
office  "  in  a  pea-green  coat,  white  vest,  nan- 
keen small-clothes,  white  silk  stockings  and 
pumps,  fastened  with  silver  buckles  which 
covered  at  least  half  the  foot  from  the  instep 
to  the  toe."  Dennie  was  but  44  years  of  age 
when  he  died;  Buckingham  says  he  was  "a 
premature  victim  to  social  indulgence."  Those 
were  the  days  of  hard  drinking  and  of  high 
thinking.  Nothing  so  frugal  as  a  cup  of 
Madeira  and  a  cold  capon's  leg  would  satisfy 
Dennie's  epicurean  soul.  He  was  a  social 
creature,  and  those  nodes  ambrosiance  of  the 


94  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Tuesday  Club  when  Tom  Moore,  who  cele- 
brated the  club  in  his  eighth  epistle,  or  some 
other  lover  of  Anacreon  was  the  guest,  were 
often  kept  up  until  it  was  too  late  to  go  to 
bed.  Wine  songs  and  Martial-like  epigrams 
of  pointed  indecencies  are  correspondingly- 
brisk  and  plentiful  in  the  pages  of  the  Port 
Folio. 

In  the  introduction  to  the  magazine  Dennie 
stated  that  the  word  Port  Folio  was  not  to  be 
found  in  Johnson's  Dictionary,  and  proceeded 
to  define  it  as  "  a  portable  repository  for 
fugitive  papers."  **  Editors,"  he  continued, 
slyly  satirizing  his  contemporaries,  "  ambi- 
tious of  sonorous  or  brilliant  titles,  frequently 
select  a  name  not  intimately  connected  with 
the  nature  of  their  work.  We  hear  of  the  Mirror 
and  the  Aurora;  but  what  relation  has  a  liter- 
ary essay  with  a  polished  plane  of  glass,  or  what 
has  politics  to  do  with  the  w<?r;^?>2^.^  *  The 
editor  began  with  a  **  lilliputian  page "  be- 
cause he  was  warned  by  **  the  waywardness 
of  the  time."  **  A  waywardness  which,"  he 
explains,  "  alludes  to  our  indifference  to  ele- 

*  The  editor  of  the  Aurora  retorted  in  kind,  and  dubbed 
the  Port  Folio  "  Portable  Foolery." 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.        95 

gant  letters,  the  acrimony  of  our  party  bicker- 
ings, and  to  the  universal  eagerness  for  political 

texts  and  their  commentary Amid 

such  *  wild  uproar '  the  gentle  voice  of  the 
Muse  is  scarcely  audible."  In  these  early 
years  of  the  century  literature  was  wretchedly 
paid.  John  Davis,  the  vivacious  English 
writer  of  travels,  offered,  in  1801,  two  novels 
to  any  bookseller  in  the  country  who  would 
publish  them,  on  the  condition  of  receiving  fifty 
copies.  The  booksellers  of  New  York  could 
not,  he  said,  undertake  them,  for  they  were 
dead  of  the  fever.  It  is  interesting  to  find 
Dennie  writing  in  his  introduction,  "  Liter- 
ary industry,  usefully  employed,  has  a  sort  of 
draught  upon  the  bank  of  opulence,  and  has 
the  right  of  entry  into  the  mansion   of  every 

Maecenas Authors  far  elevated  above 

the  mire  of  low  avarice  have  thought  it  de- 
basement to  make  literature  common  and 
cheap." 

The  Port  Folio  at  once  sprang  into  popular 
favor.  In  the  life  of  Josiah  Quincy,  by  his 
son,  we  read,  "  The  Port  Folio  was  very  far 
superior  in  literary  ability  to  any  magazine  or 
periodical  ever  before  attempted  in  this  coun- 


96  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

try.  Indeed,  it  was  no  whit  behind  the  best 
English  magazines  of  that  day,  and  would 
bear  no  unfavorable  comparison  with  those  of 
the  present  time  on  either  side  of  the  water. 
Its  influence  was  greatly  beneficial  in  raising 
the  standard  of  literary  taste  in  this  country, 
and  in  creating  a  demand  for  a  higher  order 
of  periodical  literature  and  for  more  exact  and 
careful  editorship." 

Dennie  was  a  daring  and  devoted  lover  of 
England.  He  had  no  patience  with  Amer- 
ican innovations  that,  as  it  seemed  to  him, 
were  certain  to  lose  history  by  being  severed 
from  the  traditions  of  England.  When  the 
doctrine  of  social  equality  was  flaunted  before 
him,  or  the  glittering  clauses  of  the  Declar- 
ation of  Independence  were  quoted  to  him,  his 
indignation  forgot  all  discretion.  He  was  soon 
bandying  hot  words  with  the  Aurora,  and  mark- 
ing with  his  scorn  every  new  phase  of  Amer- 
icanism. Speaking  in  his  editorial  person  he 
declared  : 

"  To  gratify  the  malignancy  of  fanatics  he 
will  not  asperse  the  Government  or  the 
Church,  the  laws  or  the  literature  of  England. 
Remembering  that  we  are  at  peace  with  that 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  97 

power — that  the  most  wholesome  portions  of 
our  polity  are  modelled  from  hers — that  we 
kneel  at  shrines  and  speak  a  language  com- 
mon to  both,  he  will  not  flagitiously  and 
foolishly  advert  to  ancient  animosities,  nor 
with  rash  hand  attempt  to  hurl  the  brand  of 
discord  between  the  nations."  In  the  same 
connection  he  attacks  Gallic  philosophy  and 
the  equality  of  man,  the  latter  of  which  he 
styles  an  "  execrable  delusion  of  hair-brained 
philosophy."  Others  might  speak  of  "  the 
Rep2iblic  of  letters ;  "  with  Dennie  it  was  the 
Monarchy  of  letters.  Several  articles  ran 
through  \hQ  Port  Folio  of  1801  on  the  senti- 
ment and  style  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, characterizing  that  famous  document 
as  a  "  false  and  flatulent  and  foolish  paper." 
In  the  same  volume  (page  215)  Dennie, 
offended  by  the  introduction  of  some  new 
Americanism  into  politics,  writes  : 

**  Unsatisfied  with  acting  like  fools,  men 
begin  to  enlarge  their  scheme  and  talk  and 
write  from  the  vocabulary  of  folly.  All  this, 
however,  quadrates  with  the  character  of  a 
good  republican ;  as  he  hates  England, 
why  not  murder  English?''     In  April,  1803, 


98  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Dennie  denounced  Democratic  Government, 
and  prophesied  that  of  it  would  come  "  civil 
war,  desolation  and  anarchy."  His  pranks 
had  now  become  too  broad  to  bear  with, 
and  on  the  Fourth  of  July  this  latest  pub- 
lication of  his  was  condemned  as  "an  in- 
flammatory and  seditious  libel,"  and  a  bill  of 
indictment  was  found.  The  case  was  tried  in 
November,  1805,  Ingersoll  and  Hopkinson 
appearing  for  the  defence.  The  verdict  reached 
was  "  not  guilty,"  and  Mr.  Joseph  Dennie 
had  the  triumphant  pleasure  the  next  week 
in  his  report  of  the  case  to  define  democracy 
for  the  benefit  of  his  enemies  as  "a  fiend 
more  horrible  than  any  that  the  imagination 
of  the  classical  poets  ever  conjured  up  from 
the  vasty  deep  of  their  Pagan  Hell." 

When  Dennie  learned  that  a  certain  Noah 
Webster  was  to  publish  "  A  Columbian  Dic- 
tionary "  containing  "  American  corrections 
of  the  English  language,"  he  had  a  few  sug- 
gestions to  offer.  The  Columbian  language 
he  understood  to  be  an  elegant  dialect  of  the 
English,  but,  he  went  on,  "  there  is  one  re- 
mark which  I  would  wish  with  deference  to 
submit  to  our  great  lexicographer  before   I 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  99 

finish  this  paper.  As  his  dictionary,  I  under- 
stand, is  to  be  the  dictionary  of  the  vulgar 
tongue  in  New  England,  would  it  not  be 
better  to  prefix  to  it  the  epithet  Cabotiatt  in- 
stead of  Columbian  ?  Sebastian  Cabot  first 
discovered  these  Eastern  States,  and  ought 
not  to  be  robbed  of  the  honor  of  giving  his 
name  to  them.  I  would,  therefore,  propose 
calling  New  England  Cabotia,  the  other  States 
America,  and  the  Southern  continent  Colum- 
bia." He  then  proposed,  in  irony,  a  list  of  a 
few  ''  Cabotian  words  " — happify,  gunning, 
belittle,  quiddle,  composuist,  sot,  etc.  Lengthy 
he  stigmatizes  as  **  a  foolish,  flat,  unauthorized, 
unmusical  Indian  word.*  In  conclusion  {Port 
Folio,  I,  page  370),  ''  let  then  the  projected 
volume  of  fold  and  unclean  things  bear  his 
own  Christian  name  and  be  called  Noah's 
Ark!" 

We  meet  the  first  notice  of  Benjamin  West, 
as  a  boy  of  19  years,  in  Bradford's  second 
American  Magazine.  In  the  first  volume  of  the 
Port  Folio  we  find  the  first  of  a  long  series  of 


* "  Lengthy  is  the   American  for  long.     It   is  frequently       ^ 
used    by    the   classical  writers  of  the  New  World. — (John 
Davis'  "  Travels  in  the  United  States,"  page  126.) 


f 


lOO  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

sketches  in  praise  of  West's  genius  and  gen- 
erosity. **  It  is  a  melancholy  and  miraculous 
circumstance,"  the  satirical  writer  begins, 
"that  this  American  artist,  after  experiencing 
the  good  fortune  to  be  born  and  educated  in 
Pennsylvania,  should  sullenly  retreat  to  Eng- 
land and  exchange  the  glorious  privileges  of 
our  happy,  tranquil  and  rising  Republic  for 
the  smoke  and  servility  of  the  city  of  London. 
It  is  perfectly  inexplicable  that  he  should 
barter  citizenship  for  knighthood,  that  he 
should  receive  a  king's  money,  and,  more  pro- 
voking still,  be  soothed  by  regal  praise. 
What  are  titles,  honours  and  gold  to  an  inde- 
pendent Republican  who,  remaining  at  home, 
might  have  had  the  noblest  and  amplest  op- 
portunities of  giving  away  as  many  pictures 
as  he  pleased." 

It  is  a  singular  history,  that  of  the  boy  from 
Chester  County,  whom  Byron  called — 

The  dotard  West, 

Europe's  worst  daub,  and  poor  England's  best. 

The  Archbishop  of  York,  for  whom  he  had 
painted  his  "  Agrippina  landing  with  the 
Ashes  of  Germanicus,"  presented  the  young 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURV.  1 01 

American  to  George  III.  "The  Departure  of 
Regulus  from  Rome  "  won  for  him  the  royal 
favor.  In  1768  he  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  in  1792  he  suc- 
ceeded Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  as  President  of 
that  institution. 

The  Port  Folio  is  full  of  accounts  of  "  Christ 
Healing  the  Sick,"  West's  generous  gift  to 
the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  and  of  his  "  Death 
on  the  Pale  Horse,"  and  his  "  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas "  in  the  Pennsylvania  Academy. 

In  a  letter  from  West  to  Charles  Willson 
Peale,  dated  November  3,  1809,  and  published 
in  the  Port  Folio  of  the  following  year,  reference 
is  made  to  a  young  gentleman,  studying  under 
his  directions,  "  whose  talents  only  want  time 
to  mature  them  to  excellence,"  and  West  de- 
sires his  friends  in  Philadelphia  to  procure  for 
the  young  man  the  means  of  studying  another 
year.  That  rising  artist,  who  had  early  felt 
the  generous  assistance  of  Benjamin  West, 
was  Thomas  Sully,  who  had  the  honor,  in 
1837-8,  of  painting  the  scene  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria's coronation,  and  his  daughter,  to  save 
her  Majesty  fatigue,  stood  for  her,  wearing 
the  royal  robes. 


102  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

John  Trumbull,  son  of  "  Brother  Jonathan  " 
the  patriot,  who  painted  the  famous  "  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,"  was  imprisoned  for  trea- 
son in  London,  and  was  only  released  by  Ben- 
jamin West,  to  whom  he  had  been  introduced 
by  Franklin,  becoming  his  surety.  Gilbert 
Stuart,  greatest  of  American  portrait  painters, 
who  has  graven  the  face  of  Washington  upon 
our  memories,  learned  his  art  and  received  his 
earliest  encouragement  in  the  English  home 
of  Benjamin  West.  It  is  a  matter  of  interest- 
ing and  singular  memory  that  a  Boston  boy, 
John  Singleton  Copley,  sent  anonymously 
to  West,  in  1760,  a  portrait  which  at  once 
attracted  attention.  It  was  "  The  Boy  and  the 
Flying  Squirrel,"  the  boy  representing  Copley's 
half-brother,  Henry  Pelham.  Through  West's 
influence  the  picture  was  exhibited  at  Somer- 
set House.  Through  West  again,  Copley 
twas  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Society  of  Artists 
of  Great  Britain.  When  he  crossed  the  ocean 
to  make  his  home  near  West,  he  took  with 
him  his  Boston-born  son,  John  Singleton,  Jr., 
who  became  in  1827,  the  year  that  the  Port 
Folio  suspended,  Lord  Chancellor  of  England, 
and  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Lynd- 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  IO3 

hurst.  To  Lyndhurst,  as  the  greatest  of 
orators,  Lord  Lytton  dedicated  his  St. 
Stephen's. 

The  leading  article  of  the  Port  Folio  of  May 
28,  1803,  is  devoted  to  young  Leigh  Hunt, 
and  treats  him  as  an  American  poet,  and 
assures  the  public  that  he  "  is  a  deserving  ob- 
ject of  patronage."  Again,  in  June  ii,  1803, 
some  sonnets  and  odes  are  quoted  from  Hunt's 
Juvenilia,  Hunt  being  then  a  lad  of  19  years, 
and  the  author  is  said  to  be  a  "blossom 
from  our  own  garden."  Although  the  editor 
lays  claim  to  Leigh  Hunt  as  a  Philadelphian 
and  to  his  works  as  American,  he  is  ad- 
vised to  abide  in  London :  "  Let  him  remain 
in  London,  *  the  metropolis  of  the  civilized 
world,'  and  remember  with  the  judicious 
Sancho  that  St.  Peter  is  very  well  at  Rome. 
.  .  .  It  affords  the  editor  the  purest  pleas- 
ure to  have  it  in  his  power  to  advance  the 
claims  of  a  child  of  genius,  a  nephew  of  Sir 
Benjamin  West,  an  honor  to  that  country 
from  which  he  is  descended  and  to  that 
which  protects  him." 

Isaac  Hunt,  the  father  of  the  author  of  "  The 
Story  of  Rimini,"  and  Benjamin  West  married 


I04  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

sisters,  daughters  of  Stephen  Shewell,  merchant, 
in  Philadelphia.  Leigh  Hunt,  in  1810,  writing 
in  the  Monthly  Mirror,  gave  an  eloquent  and 
tender  description  of  his  mother,  Mary  Shew- 
ell, which  was  reprinted  in  \\\^  Analectic  Mag- 
azifte  of  Philadelphia,  in  18 14.  **  Here,  in- 
deed," he  exclaimed,  "  I  could  enlarge  both 
seriously  and  proudly  ;  for  if  any  one  circum- 
stance of  my  life  could  give  me  cause  for 
boasting,  it  would  be  that  of  having  had  such 
a  mother.  She  was  indeed  a  mother  in  every 
exalted  sense  of  the  word,  in  piety,  in  sound 
teaching,  in  patient  care,  in  spotless  example." 
The  father,  Isaac  Hunt,  came  to  Philadelphia 
from  the  Barbadoes,  was  graduated  at  the  Col- 
lege of  Philadelphia,  read  law  in  the  city,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1765.  He  was  an 
uncompromising  Tory.  It  is  said  that  on  one 
occasion  he  pointed  out  to  a  bookseller  a  vol- 
ume of  reports  of  trials  for  high  treason  as  a 
proper  book  for  John  Adams  to  read.  Alex- 
ander Graydon,  one  of  the  faithful  contribu- 
tors to  the  Port  Folio,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  a 
Life  Chiefly  Passed  in  Pennsylvania,"  relates 
the  following  incident  which,  no  doubt,  led  to 
the  accident  of  Leigh  Hunt's  birth  in  Eng- 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  TO5 

land,  and  to  the  loss  of  "Abou  ben  Adhem"  to 
America:  "A  few  days  after  the  carting  of 
Mr.  Kearsley,  Mr.  Isaac  Hunt,  the  attorney, 
was  treated  in  the  same  manner,  but  he 
managed  the  matter  much  better  than  his 
precursor.  Instead  of  braving  his  conduct- 
ors, like  the  Doctor,  Mr.  Hunt  was  a  pattern 
of  meekness  and  humility;  and  at  every  halt 
that  was  made  he  rose  and  expressed  his  ac- 
knowledgments to  the  crowd  for  their  for- 
bearance and  civility.  After  a  parade  of  an 
hour  or  two,  he  was  set  down  at  his  own 
door,  as  uninjured  in  body  as  in  mind.  He 
soon  after  removed  to  one  of  the  islands,  i(  I 
mistake  not,  to  Barbadoes,  where,  it  is  under- 
stood, he  took  orders." 

Leigh  Hunt  was  not  the  only  English  poet  of 
far-shining  fame  who  was  of  American  origin. 
Percy  Bysshe  Shelley  was  the  grandson  of  a 
quack  doctor  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  who,  according 
to  a  local  tradition,  married  the  widow  of  a 
New  York  miller.  Fitz- Greene  Halleck  lived 
and  died  in  an  old  house  in  Guilford,  Connecti- 
cut, built  upon  ground  that  had  belonged  to 
Bysshe  Shelley,  before  he  went  to  England 
and  became  master  of  Castle  Goring.     Many 


I06  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

another  great  life  in  England  was  bound  with 
strands  of  intimate  connection  to  the  history 
of  America.  John  Keats's  brother.  George 
made  his  home  in  Kentucky,  and  his  descend- 
ants are  still  residents  of  Philadelphia.  Tench 
Francis,  the  merchant,  who  was  for  many 
years  the  agent  for  the  Penns  in  their  domain, 
and  who  was  the  first  cashier  of  the  Bank  of 
North  America,  was  a  cousin  of  Sir  Philip 
Francis,  the  reputed  author  of  the  ''  Junius  " 
letters.  Sir  Philip  wrote  to  Tench's  brother, 
Turbott,  whom  he  called,  familiarly,  "Tubby:" 
"  At  present  I  am  bound  to  the  Ganges,  but 
who  knows  whether  I  may  not  end  my  days 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  ?  It  gives  me  great 
comfort  to  reflect  that  I  have  relatives,  who 
are  honest  fellows,  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
world.  In  America  the  name  of  Francis 
flourishes.  I  don't  like  to  think  of  the  quan- 
tity of  salt  water  between  us.  If  it  were  claret 
I  would  drink  my  way  to  America."  The 
name  of  Francis  certainly  flourishes  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  intricate  little  settlement  o 
Francisville,  within  the  city,  perpetuates  the 
name  of  the  family. 

It  has  always  been  asserted  and  believed 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  10/ 

that  Gulian  Crommelin  Verplanck,  of  New 
York,  was  the  first  American  editor  of  Shake- 
speare. A  few  jottings  from  the  Port  Folio  will 
show  that  he  has  too  rashly  been  placed  upon 
the  pinnacle,  and  that  the  honor  justly  belongs 
to  Joseph  Dennie. 

The  Port  Folio  of  February  1 1,  1804  (p.  46) 
advertises  "the  first  complete  edition  of 
Shakespeare  in  this  country,  from  the  text  of 
the  best  editors  of  Shakespeare.  To  be  pub- 
lished by  Hugh  Maxwell  and  Thomas  S. 
Manning."  No  editor's  name  is  mentioned, 
but  in  the  following  month  (March  10,  1804) 
Dennie  tells  the  whole  story  :  ''  The  editor, 
having,  at  the  request  of  his  publisher,  under- 
taken to  superintend  a  new  edition  of  the 
Plays  of  Shakespeare,  is  particularly  desirous 
of  inspecting  the  first  folio  edition.  This  is 
probably  very  scarce,  and  may  be  found  only 
in  the  cabinet  of  some  distant  virtuoso.  But 
the  owner  of  this  rare  book  will  be  very 
gratefully  thanked  if  the  editor  can  have  per- 
mission to  consult  it  for  a  short  season." 
Later  on  (April  14,  p.  119)  Dennie  confesses 
some  further  "  wants  :"  "  During  some  weeks 
in  which  the  editor  has  been  engaged  in  re- 


I08  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

searches  respecting  the  text  of  Shakespeare  he 
has  had  frequent  occasion  to  acknowledge  the 
kindness  of  many  literary  gentlemen  who  have 
directed  his  attention  to  many  books  auxiliary 
to  his  labors.  But  notwithstanding  his  own 
inquisitiveness  and  the  aid  of  others,  he  still 
has  not  had  the  good  fortune  to  find 
the  following,  for  the  whole  or  any  one 
of  which  he  will  be  particularly  obliged  : — 
'Remarks  on  Shakespeare's  Tempest,'  *  An 
Essay  on  the  Dramatic  Character  of  Sir  John 
Falstafif,  by  Mr.  Maurice  Morgan,  8  vo, 
1777,'  "  etc.,  etc. 

After  this  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
useful  notes  to  the  1807  edition,  signed  "  J.  D.," 
are  from  the  pen  of  Joseph  Dennie.  Although 
he  edited  but  one  volume,  he  is  the  first 
American  editor,  and  the  honors  are  transferred 
from  New  York  to  Philadelphia. 

Charles  Brockden  Brown  was  the  first  man 
in  America  to  cultivate  literature  as  a  profes- 
sion ;  Dennie  was  the  second.  When  inau- 
gurating the  Port  Folio  he  wrote  of  himself: 
"  He  has  long  been  urged  by  a  sober  wish,  or, 
if  the  sneering  reader  will  have  it  so,  he  has 
long  been  deluded  by  the  visionary  whim,  of 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  IO9 

making  literature  the  handmaid  of  fortune,  or 
at  least  of  securing  something  like  independ- 
ence, by  exertion,  as  a  man  of  letters. 

Of  course  Dennie  and  his  colleagues  who 
drew  their  poetry  from  Pope  and  their  prose 
from  Addison  had  no  sympathy  with  the  new 
romantic  poetry  that  at  the  time  of  the 
birth  of  the  Port  Folio  was  issuing  from  the 
English  Lakes.  '*  William  Wordsworth  "  said 
the  Port  Folio  of  1 809  "  stands  among  the 
foremost  of  those  English  bards  who  have 
mistaken  silliness  for  simplicity,  and,  with  a 
false  and  affected  taste,  filled  their  papers  with 
the  language  of  children  and  clowns  "  (P.  /^, 
Vol.  VII,  p.  256). 

The  first  American  edition  of  Wordsworth 
was  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1802.  It  is 
exceedingly  rare,  and  bears  the  following 
imprint : 

LYRICAL  BALLADS,  |  with  |  other 
poems  :  |  In  Two  Volumes.  |  By  W. 
WORDSWORTH.  |  [Motto]  Quam  nihil  ad 
genium,  papiniane,  tuum !  |  Vol.  I.  |  From  the 
London  Second  Edition.  |  Philadelphia:  | 
Printed  and  sold  by  James  Humphreys^ — At  the 
N.    IV.   Corner  of   Walnut  and  Dock  street, 


no  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

1802.       2     vols.       120.        VOL.    I,  //.      Xxii-159. 
VOL.  11,//.    172. 

The  earliest  notice  of  John  Howard  Payne 
is  in  the  Poj^t  Folio,  new  series,  Vol.  I,  p.  loi 
(1806).  Payne  was  then  a  lad  of  fourteen 
years,  and  already  editor  of  the  Thespian  Mir- 
ror in  New  York. 

The  Port  Folio,  new  series,  Vol.  II,  p.  421, 
contains  an  account  of  the  first  dramatic  per- 
formance composed  in  North  Carolina, 
"  Nolens  Volens  ;  or.  The  Biter  Bit','  written 
by  Everard  Hall,  a  gentleman  of  North  Caro- 
lina. 

Dennie  died  January  7,  181 2,  and  was 
buried  in  St.  Peter's  churchyard.  A  monu- 
ment was  erected  to  him,  and  the  inscrip- 
tion carved  upon  it,  which  errs  only  in  the 
place  of  his  nativity,  was  written  by  his  friend, 
John  Quincy  Adams  : 

Joseph  Dennie, 

Born  at  Lexington,  Massachusetts, 

August  30,  1 768 ; 

Died  at  Philadelphia,  January  7,  181 2; 

Endowed  with  talents  and  qualified  by  education 

To  adorn  the  senate  and  the  bar  ; 

But  following  the  impulse  of  a  genius 

Formed  for  converse  with  the  muses 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  I  I  I 

He  devoted  his  life  to  the  literature  of  his  country. 

As  author  of  "  The  Lay  Preacher," 

And  as  first  editor  of  the  Port  Folio, 

He  contributed  to  chasten  the  morals,  and  to 

Refine  the  taste  of  this  nation. 

To  an  imagination  lively,  not  licentious, 

A  wit  sportive,  not  vi^anton, 

And  a  heart  without  guile,  he 

United  a  deep  sensibility,  which  endeared 

Him  to  his  friends,  and  an  ardent  piety, 

Which  we  humbly  trust  recommended  him 

to  his  God. 

Those  friends  have  erected  this  tribute  of  their 

Affection  to  his  memory ; 

To  the  mercies  of  that  God  is  their  resort 

For  themselves  and  for  him. 

MDCCCXIX. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  who  wrote  the  Hnes 
upon  the  monument,  was  an  old  and  valued 
friend  of  Dennie's,  and  one  of  the  earliest  con- 
tributors to  the  Port  Folio. 

His  "  Tour  Through  Silesia,"  afterward  re- 
printed in  London  in  two  octavo  volumes, 
first  appeared  in  the  Port  Folio  m  1801.  He 
also  contributed  to  the  first  number  of  the 
magazine  a  version  of  the  thirteenth  satire  of 
Juvenal,  and  intended  to  continue  the  transla- 
tion of  Juvenal,  but  abandoned  the  project 
when    Gifford's    work   was    announced.      A 


112  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

brother  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  was  a 
resident  of  Philadelphia,  had  been  a  fellow- 
student  with  Dennie  at  Harvard. 

The  obituary  notice  of  Dennie  in  the  Port 
Folio  of  February,  1812,  did  not  satisfy  his 
friends.  His  life  was  related  at  greater  length, 
accompanied  by  a  silhouette,  in  May,  18 16 
(Port  Folio,  page  361).  This  time  the  affection 
and  admiration  for  the  man  found  right  ex- 
pression. It  was  said  that  Dennie  had 
"  erected  the  first  temple  to  the  muses  on  his 
natal  shore  ;  "  and  "  when  the  Muse  of  History 
shall  hereafter  narrate  the  story  of  our  rapid 
progress  from  ignorance,  poverty  and  feeble- 
ness, to  knowledge,  splendor  and  strength,  the 
name  of  Dennie  will  be  inscribed  among  the 
most  worthy  of  those  who  laboured  to  procure 
these  invaluable  blessings  "  (page  170). 

A  complete  list  of  the  contributors  to  the 
Port  Folio  would  be  the  history  of  literature 
in  Philadelphia  for  the  first  quarter  of  this 
century.  The  articles  were  almost  never 
signed,  and  while  the  thin  disguises  of  as- 
sumed names  are  in  most  cases  easily  pene- 
trable, some  that  occur  infrequently  are  only 
identified  with  rrfuch  difficulty. 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  II3 

The  last  editor  of  the  Port  Folio,  Mr.  John 
E.  Hail,  published  in  1826  "The  Philadelphia 
Souvenir,  a  collection  of  fugitive  pieces  from 
the  Philadelphia  press,  with  biographical  and 
explanatory  notes."  The  book  was  intended 
to  be  ''  a  sort  of  cairn  to  the  memory  of  the 
circle  of  friends  which  Mr.  Moore  has  com- 
memorated in  his  immortal  poems."  The 
commemoration  to  which  Mr.  Hall  refers  is 
found  in  Moore's  *'  eighth  epistle,"  addressed 
"  To  the  Honourable  W.  R.  Spencer :" 

Yet,  yet  forgive  me,  oh  you  sacred  few, 
Whom  late  by  Delaware's  green  banks  I  knew ; 
Whom,  known  and  lov'd  through  many  a  social  eve, 
'Twas  bliss  to  live  with,  and  'twas  pain  to  leave. 
Not  with  more  joy  the  lonely  exile  scann'd 
The  writing  traced  upon  the  desert  sand, 
Where  his  lone  breast  but  little  hop'd  to  find 
One  trace  of  life,  one  stamp  of  human  kind, 
Than  did  I  hail  the  pure,  th'  enlightened  zeal, 
The  strength  to  reason  and  the  warmth  to  feel, 
The  manly  polish  and  the  illumin'd  taste. 
Which, — 'mid  the  melancholy,  heartless  waste 
My  foot  has  travers'd, — oh  you  sacred  few  ! 
I  found  by  Delaware's  green  banks  with  you. 

The    only  pleasant   memories  of  America 
that  Thomas  Moore  carried  back  with  him  to 
England  were  of  the  *'  nights  of  mirth   and 
8 


114  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES, 

mind "  spent  "  where  Schuylkill  winds  his 
way  through  banks  of  flowers."  He  was  in 
Philadelphia  in  the  autumn  of  1804,  and  was 
lionized  by  the  Port  Folio;  the  eighth  epistle  in 
the  "  Poems  Relating  to  America,"  from  which 
the  lines  above  are  quoted,  was  written  at 
Buffalo,  and  it  was  from  Buffalo  also  that  Moore 
•sent  to  Dennie  the  manuscript  of  the  beautiful 
*' Lines  on  Leaving  Philadelphia,"  which  was 
pubhshed  in  the  Port  Folio  of  August  31,  1805 
(Vol.  V,  p.  271),  and  reprinted  in  Brockden 
Brown's  Literary  Magazine,  January,  1806 
(Vol.  Ill,  p.  27). 

LINES  WRITTEN   ON  LEAVING  PHILADELPHIA. 

Alone  by  the  Schuylkill  a  wanderer  rov'd, 
And  bright  were  its  flowery  banks  to  his  eye ; 

But  far,  very  far  were  the  friends  that  he  lov'd, 
And  he  gazed  on  its  flowery  banks  with  a  sigh. 

O  Nature,  though  blessed  and  bright  are  thy  rays, 
O'er  the  brow  of  creation  enchantingly  thrown, 

Yet  faint  are  they  all  to  the  lustre  that  plays 

In  a  smile  from  the  heart  that  is  fondly  our  own ! 

Nor  long  did  the  soul  of  the  stranger  remain 

Unblest  by  the  smile  that  he  languished  to  meet ; 

Though  scarce  did  he  hope  it  would  soothe  him  again, 
Till  the  threshold  of  home  had  been  prest  by  his  feet. 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  IIJ 

But  the  lays  of  his  boyhood  had  stol'n  to  their  ear, 

And  they  lov'd  what  they  knew  of  so  humble  a  name; 

And  they  told  him,  with  flattery  welcome  and  dear, 

That  they  found  in  his  heart  something  better  than  fame. 

Nor  did  woman — O  woman  !  whose  form  and  whose  soul 
Are  the  spell  and  the  light  of  each  path  we  pursue ; 

Whether  sunn'd  in  the  tropics  or  chill'd  at  the  pole. 
If  a  woman  be  there,  there  is  happiness  too. 

Nor  did  she  her  enamouring  magic  deny, — 

That  magic  his  heart  had  rehnquished  so  long, — 

Like  eyes  he  had  loved  was  her  eloquent  eye, 
Like  them  did  it  soften  and  weep  at  his  song. 

Oh,  blest  be  the  tear,  and  in  memory  oft 

May  its  sparkle  be  shed  o'er  the  wanderer's  dream ; 

Thrice  blest  be  that  eye,  and  may  passion  as  soft, 
As  free  from  a  pang,  ever  mellow  its  beam  ! 

The  stranger  is  gone — but  he  will  not  forget. 

When  at  home  he  shall  talk  of  the  toils  he  has  known, 

To  tell  with  a  sigh  what  endearments  he  met, 

As  he  stray' d  by  the  wave  of  the  Schuylkill  alone. 

It  is  interesting  to  remember  that  the  wo- 
man in  the  poem. 

Like  eyes  he  had  loved  was  her  eloquent  eye, 

was  the  wife  of  Joseph  Hopkinson,  the 
author  of  "Hail  Columbia,"  whose  house  at 
Fourth  and  Chestnut  Streets  was  the  resort  of 
Dennie  and  the  wits. 


Il6  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Moore  also  contributed  to  the  Port  Folio 
"  When  Time  who  steals  our  Hearts  Away," 
**  Dear,  in  Pity  do  not  Speak,"  "  Good-night, 
Good-night,  and  is  it  so  ?"  "  When  the  Heart's 
Feeling,"  "  Loud  sung  the  Wind,"  and  ''The 
Sorrow  long  has  worn  my  Heart." 

Among  the  Port  Folio  gentlemen  who 
may  have  met  ''Anacreon  "  Moore,  and  who 
were  Dennie's  faithful  coadjutors,  were  John 
Blair  Linn,  John  Shaw,  Francis  Cope,  Robert 
H.  Rose,  Thomas  L  Wharton,  Charles  J.  In- 
gersoU  and  his  brother  Edward,  Condy  Ra- 
guet,  Robert  Walsh,  John  Sanderson,  John 
Syng  Dorsey,  Royall  Tyler,  Robert  Hare,  Dr. 
Nathaniel  Chapman,  Alexander  Graydon, 
Josiah  Quincy,  John  Leeds  Bozman,  William 
B.  Wood,  General  Thomas  Cadwalader,  Philip 
Hamilton,  Richard  Rush,  Richard  Peters, 
Gouverneur  Morris,  Joseph  Hopkinson,  Hor- 
ace Binney,  Alexander  Wilson,  Charles  Brock- 
den  Brown  and  Samuel  Ewing.  To  this  list 
must  be  added  the  bright  names  of  Sarah 
Hall,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ferguson  and  Harriet 
Fenno. 

The  editors  and  editorial  helpers  of  the 
Port  Folio  from   the  death   of    Dennie  until 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.      11/ 

1827,  when  the  magazine  finally  ceased,  were 
Paul  Allen,  Nicholas  Biddle,  Dr.  Charles 
Caldwell,  Thomas  Cooper,  Judge  Workman, 
John  Elihu  Hall,  and  his  three  brothers  James, 
Thomas  Mifflin,  and  Harrison. 

John  Blair  Linn  (i 777-1804),  the  author 
of  the  "  Powers  of  Genius  "  (1801),  a  popular 
work  which  was  splendidly  reprinted  in  Lon- 
don,* was  the  son  of  Dr.  William  Linn,  of 
Shippensburg,  who  presided  successively  over 
the  destinies  of  three  colleges — Washington, 
Rutgers  and  Union — and  was  for  many  years 
a  regent  of  a  fourth — the  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  John  Blair  was  gradu- 
ated from  Columbia,  read  law  with  Alexander 
Hamilton,  wrote  an  unsuccessful  drama, 
"  Bourville  Castle,"  and  on  June  13,  1799,  was 
installed  as  joint-pastor  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  Philadelphia.  He  engaged  in 
controversy  with  Joseph  Priestley,  but  his  best 
achievements  were  **  Valerian,"  a  narrative 
poem,   and    "  The    Death    of    Washington " 

*  The  Powers  of  Genius,  a  poem  in  three  parts,  by  John 
Blair  Linn,  A.M.  Albion  Press.  Printed  by  J.  Cundee,  Ivy 
Lane,  for  F.  Williams,  Stationers'  Court,  and  T.  Hurst,  Pat- 
ernoster Row,  1804. 


Il8  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

(1800).  John  Blair  Linn  was  a  brother-in-law 
of  Charles  Brockden  Brown.  A  biographical 
sketch  of  him  was  written  for  the  Port  Folio 
in  1809  (page  21),  and  again  in  18 ii  (89-97). 
Brown  also  published  a  review  of  his  life  and 
work  in  the  Literary  Magazine^  Vol.  II,  page 

554- 

John  Shaw  (1778- 1809)  was  born  in  An- 
napolis, May  4,  1778,  and  lost  at  sea  January 
10,  1809.  He  studied  medicine  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  and  visited  Algiers  as 
a  ship-surgeon  in  1798.  He  died  on  a  voyage 
to  the  Bahama  Islands. 

The  best  poem  that  he  contributed  to  the 
Port  Folio  was : 

Who  has  robbed  the  ocean  cave, 

To  tinge  thy  hps  with  coral  hue  ? 
Who  from  India's  distant  wave 

For  thee  those  pearly  treasures  drew  ? 
•  Who,  from  yonder  Orient  sky, 

Stole  the  morning  of  thine  eye  ? 

Thousand  charms  thy  form  to  deck. 

From  sea,  and  earth,  and  air  are  born ; 
Roses  bloom  upon  thy  cheek, 

On  thy  breath  their  fragrance  borne. 
Guard  thy  bosom  from  the  day, 
Lest  thy  snows  should  melt  away. 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.      1 19 

But  one  charm  remains  behind, 

Which  mute  earth  can  ne'er  impart ; 
Nor  in  ocean  wilt  thou  find, 
Nor  in  the  circhng  air,  a  heart. 
Fairest !  wouldst  thou  perfect  be. 
Take,  oh  take  that  heart  from  me. 

All  his  offerings  to  the  Fori  Folio  were  signed 
"  Ithacus."  His  poems  were  collected  and 
published  in  1810,  together  with  a  memoir  and 
extracts  from  his  foreign  correspondence. 

Francis  Cope  contributed  essays  to  the 
Fort  Folio  in  18 12.  He  was  an  occasional 
writer  for  several  years,  signing  his  papers 
with  the  initials  "C.  F." 

Robert  H.  Rose  is  the  author  of  the 
"Sketches  in  Verse,"  published  in  18 10, 
nearly  all  of  which  had  previously  appeared 
in  the  Fort  Folio,  where  the  "  Sketches  "  were 
termed  "a  kind  of  chalk  drawings."  One  of 
them, "  To  a  Market  Street  Gutter,"  was  a  par- 
ody of  the  "Ode  to  the  Raritan,"  and  was  the 
cause  of  John  Davis  writing  the  "  Pursuits  of 
Philadelphia  Literature."* 

*  There  is  no  mention  of  Robert  Rose  in  Duyckinck,  or 
Anibone,in  Appleton's  Encyclopaedia  of  American  Biography, 
or  in  the  admirable  Stedman-Hutchinson  Library  of  American 
Literature. 


120  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

The  Port  Folio  of  May,  1816  (page  361),  has 
a  frontispiece  engraving  of  "Silver  Lake,"  the 
seat  of  Robert  Rose,  in  Susquehanna  County, 
on  the  New  York  line. 

ODE  TO  A  MARKET  STREET  GUTTER. 

A  Specimen  of  Local  Description. 

0  SWEETEST  Gutter  !  though  a  clown, 

1  love  to  see  thee  running  down ; 
Or  mark  thee  stop  awhile,  then  free 
From  ice,  jog  on  again,  like  me  ; 
Or  like  the  lasses  whom  I  meet, 
Who,  sauntering,  stray  along  the  street, 
As  if  they  had  nowhere  to  go  ! 

At  times,  so  rapid  is  thy  flow. 
That  did  the  cits  not  wish  in  vain 
Thou  wouldst  be  in  the  pumps  again. 
But  like  a  pig,  whose  fates  deny 
,     To  find  again  his  wonted  sty, 

You  turn,  and  stop,  and  run,  and  turn, 
Yet  ne'er  shall  find  your  "  native  urn." 
How  oft  has  rolled  down  thy  stream 
Things  which  in  song  not  well  would  seem, 
Ere  scavengers  their  scrapers  plied 
To  drag  manure  from  out  thy  tide, 
Or  hydrants  bade  thy  scanty  rill 
Desert  its  banks  and  cellars  fill. 
Last  Thursday  morn,  so  very  cold, 
A  morn  not  better  felt  than  told, 
Then  first  in  all  its  bright  array, 
Did  I  thy  "frozen  form"  survey; 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  121 

And,  goodness  !  what  a  great  big  steeple  ! 
What  sights  of  houses  !  and  such  people  ! ! 
And  then  I  thought,  did  I  not  stutter, 
But  verse  could,  like  sorne poets,  utter. 
How  much  I'd  praise  thee,  sweetest  Gutter  ! 

After  the  publication  of  this  parody  John 
Davis  printed  "  The  Philadelphia  Pursuits  of 
Literature.  By  Juvenal  Junius  of  New  Jer- 
sey.    Phila. :  John  Davis,  1805." 

"  Then  Muses  aid  me !  and  I'll  fain  review 
The  Philadelphia  lounging  scribbling  crew." 

Davis  had  met  the  gentlemen  of  the  Port 
Folio  and  had  all '  the  information  necessary 
for  stinging  satire  of  the  Mutual  Admiration 
Society  that  met  at  Meredith's  and  Hopkin- 
son's  or  at  Dennie's  office.  In  his  "Travels" 
(p.  203),  he  writes:  "At  Philadelphia  I  found 
Mr.  Brown  (C.  B.),  who  felt  no  remission  of 
his  literary  diligence  by  a  change  of  abode 
(from  New  York).  He  was  ingratiating  him- 
self into  the  favor  of  the  ladies  by  writing  a 
new  novel,  and  rivalling  Lopez  de  Vega  by  the 
multitude  of  his  works.  Mr.  Brown  intro- 
duced me  to  Mr.  (Asbury)  Dickins,  and  Mr. 
Dickins  to  Mr.  Dennie ;  Mr.  Dennie  pre- 
sented me  to  Mr.  Wilkins,  and  Mr.  Wilkins 


122  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Abercrombie ;  a  constellation 
of  American  geniuses,  in  whose  blaze  I  was 
almost  consumed.  .  .  .  Rev.  Mr.  Aber- 
crombie was  impatient  of  every  conversation 
that  did  not  relate  to  Dr.  Johnson,  of  whom 
he  could  detail  every  anecdote  from  the  time 
he  trod  on  a  duck  till  he  purchased  an  oak- 
stick  to  repulse  Macpherson."  * 

In  the  "  Philadelphia  Pursuits"  Davis  wrote 
of  Dennie : 

"  There's  no  clown  from  Walpole  to  Hell-Gate, 
But  ribaldry  from  him  has  learned  to  prate." 

And  again : 

"  Such  is  our  Dennie  !  high  exalted  name, 
Eager  alike  for  dollars  and  for  fame." 

Two  Philadelphians  only  escaped  the  sting 
of  the  adder : 

"With  Clifton,  Nature's  poet,  who  shall  vie? 
Though  low  he  lies,  his  works  shall  never  die. 
And  Linn,  distinguish'd  for  his  moral  lays, 
Shall,  by  his  strain,  Columbia's  triumph  raise." 

"  The   Sketches    in    Verse "    was   magnifi- 

*  Abercrombie's  prospectus  for  a  new  edition  of  Johnson's 
Works — "to  be  comprised  in  fourteen  octavo  volumes,  with 
new  designs  and  plates.  Phila. :  l8ii  " — is  contained  in  the 
/"or/  Fo/io,  Vol.  VI,  p.  98. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 23 

cently  printed  for  C.  and  A.  Conrad  by  Smith 
and  Maxwell  in  1810. 

To  "  a  pastoral  love-ditty  "  that  began — 

"  Where  Schuylkill  o'er  his  rocky  bed 
Roars,  like  a  bull  in  battle  " — 

Rose  appended  the  note  : 

"Our  American  names,  although"  some  of 
them  are  truly  savage,  are  not  much  worse 
.than  many  of  those  with  which  we  might  be 
furnished  by  other  nations  in  abundance  ;  and 
Schuylkill  would  not  have  offended  the  ears 
of  Boileau  more  than  the  Whal  and  the  Leek, 
the  Issel  and  the  Zuiderzee." 

Thomas  I.  Wharton  (1791-1856),  a  distin- 
guished Philadelphia  lawyer,  was  a  frequent 
contributor,  and  for  a  time  was  editor  of  the 
Analectic  Magazine. 

Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  the  author  of  "In- 
chiquin  the  Jesuit's  Letters  on  American 
Literature  and  Politics,"  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, October  3,  1782,  and  died  there  May 
14,  1862.  His  first  boyish  composition  is  in 
the  Port  Folio  of  October  24,  1801.  It  is  en- 
titled "Chiomara,"  and  is  introduced  by  the 
editor  as  the  work  of  a  "youth  ambitious  of 
the  fame  of  Chatterton."  Chiomara  is  a  Gaul, 
who  kills  a  Roman  in  defence  of  her  honor. 


124  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Edward  Ingersoll,  a  younger  brother  of 
Charles,  wrote  poems  for  the  Port  Folio  on 
the  events  of  the  times,  and  named  them 
"  Horace  in  Philadelphia."  All  his  poems,  of 
whatever  nature,  were  signed  *'  Horace." 

CoNDY  Raguet  (1784- 1 842)  pubHshed  in 
the  Port  Folio  some  interesting  letters  on  the 
"  Massacre  of  St.  Domingo."  He  had  gone  as 
supercargo  to  Hayti,  and  lived  there  during 
the  exciting  scenes  of  the  Revolution.  He 
also  contributed  numerous  papers  to  the  Port 
Folio  upon  "  Free  Trade." 

John  Sanderson  (i  783-1 844)  was  profes- 
sor of  Greek  and  Latin  in  the  Philadelphia 
Central  High  School.  He  wrote,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Theodore  Hook,  a  capital  volume 
of  Parisian  sketches,  called  the  "  American  in 
Paris,"  which  Jules  Janin  translated  into 
French.  Portions  of  his  "  American  in  Lon- 
don "  appeared  in  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine, 
He  successfully  opposed,  in  a  pamphlet  signed 
"  Riberjot,"  the  plan  of  excluding  the  classical 
languages  from  Girard  College.  He  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  John  E.  Hall,  and  contrib- 
uted to  the  Port  Folio, 

John  Syng  Dorsey  (1783-18 18)  succeeded 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  125 

Dr.  Wistar  as  professor  of  anatomy  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  published  an 
edition  of  Cooper's  '*  Surgery,"  and  "  Elements 
of  Surgery,"  the  latter  of  which  was  adopted 
as  the  text-book  in  Edinburgh. 

RoYALL  Tyler  was  born  in  Boston,  near 
Faneuil  Hall,  July  i8,  1757.  He  studied  law 
under  John  Adams,  was  made  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  1794,  and,  in  1800,  became 
chief  justice.  He  was  one  of  the  closest 
friends  of  Joseph  Dennie,  and  when  the  latter 
became  editor  of  the  Farmer's  Weekly  Mii- 
seimi  he  wrote  for  him  a  medley  of  verse  and 
social  and  political  skits  under  the  general 
title  "From  the  Shop  of  Messrs,  Colon  and 
Spondee." 

These  papers  he  continued  to  write  for  the 
Port  Folio.  They  '*  are  divided  between  Fed- 
eral politics,  attacks  on  French  democracy, 
the  Delia  Cruscan  literature,  and  the  fashion- 
able frivolities  of  the  day."  He  also  wrote  for 
the  Port  Folio,  in  1801,  a  series  of  similarly 
varied  articles,  richly  reminiscent,  entitled 
"  An  Author's  Evenings." 

Robert  Hare  (i  781- 185  8),  father  of  Judge 
J.  I.  C.  Hare,  who  was  professor  of  chemistry 


126  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

and  natural  philosophy  in  William  and  Mary- 
College,  and,  later,  professor  of  chemistry  in 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  published  a 
number  of  moral  essays  in  the  Port  Folio  un- 
der the  pen-name  of  "  Eldred  Grayson." 

Dr.  Nathaniel  Chapman  (i 783-1 850)  used 
the  pen-name  of**  Falkland." 

Alexander  Graydon  (175 2-1 8 18),  a  man 
of  elegant  manners  and  author  of  a  useful  and 
entertaining  volume  of  "  Memoirs  of  a  Life 
chiefly  passed  in  Pennsylvania  within  the 
last  Sixty  Years,"  published,  in  the  Port  Folio, 
in  18 1 3-14,  a  series  of  chatty  paragraphs 
styled  "  Notes  of  a  Desultory  Reader."  He 
lived  in  the  **  Slate-Roof  House,"  at  Second 
Street  and  Norris'  Alley,  where  he  had  an  op- 
portunity of  meeting  men  of  rank  and  fame. 

JosiAH  QuiNCY  (1772- 1 864),  whose  opinion 
of  the  Port  Folio  has  been  already  quoted, 
contributed  to  it  a  series  of  articles,  beginning 
January  28,  1804,  in  the  style  of  Swift,  and 
signed  "  Climenole.* 

John  Leeds  Bozman  (175 7- 1823)  studied 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  read 

*  The  name  of  the  flappers,  employed  by  the  inhabitants  of 
Laputa  to  arouse  them  from  their  scientific  reveries. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  12/ 

law  in  the  Middle  Temple,  London.  He  con- 
tributed both  prose  and  verse  to  the  Port 
Folio. 

General  Thomas  Cadwalader  (1779- 
1841)  furnished  the  magazine  with  transla- 
tions of  Horace. 

Richard  Rush  (i  780-1 859)  was  admitted 
to  the  Philadelphia  bar  in  1800,  and  success- 
fully defended  William  Duane,  of  the  Anro7'a, 
on  a  charge  of  libelling  Gov.  Thomas  McKean. 
He  occasionally  contributed  official  and  per- 
sonal anecdotes  to  the  Port  Folio. 

Richard  Peters  (1744- 1828),  the  witty 
judge  of  Belmont,  extended  princely  hos- 
pitality at  his  country  seat.  His  association 
with  the  most  distinguished  men  of  Europe 
and  America  stored  his  memory  with  the 
choicest  bits  of  political  and  personal  history. 
These  odd  old  ends,  stolen  out  of  the  secret 
chronicles  of  the  time,  and  decked  with  his 
rare  wit,  were  given  upon  irregular  occasions 
to  the  Port  Folio. 

Gouverneur  Morris  (175  2-1 8 16)  contrib- 
uted political  satires  in  both  prose  and 
verse  to  Dennie  and  his  confreres. 

Joseph     Hopkinson    (1770- 1842),    whose 


128  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

authorship  of  *' Hail  Columbia"  has  been 
already  referred  to,  wrote  the  articles  upon 
Shakespeare  that  appeared  in  the  Port-Folio 
between  1 80 1  and  1806.  His  house  at  Fourth 
and  Chestnut  Streets  was  a  favorite  meeting- 
place  for  Dennie  and  the  wits. 

Horace  Binney  (1780-1875),  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  lawyers  at  a  time  when  a 
Philadelphia  lawyer  was  a  synonym  for  skill 
and  cleverness,  wrote  in  moments,  snatched 
from  a  busy  and  almost  breathless  profession, 
some  of  the  clearest  and  most  careful  sketches 
of  classical  literature,  as  well  as  the  shrewdest 
of  political  satires  to  be  found  in  the  early 
volumes  of  the  Port  Folio. 

Harriet  Fenno,  daughter  of  John  Ward 
Fenno,  founder  and  editor  of  the  United  States 
Gazette,  signed  her  verses  '' Violetta." 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ferguson  was  the  woman 
who  carried  to  Washington  the  letter  written 
by  Dr.  Duche  urging  concessions  to  the  British 
as  the  only  means  of  saving  the  country  from 
spoliation  and  ruin.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Graeme,  a  Scottish  physician,  and 
granddaughter  of  Sir  William  Keith.  Father 
and  daughter  lived  for  a  time  in  the  Slate- 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  12^ 

Roof  House,  then  in  the  Carpenter  mansion  at 
Sixth  and  Chestnut,  and  finally  at  Graeme 
Hall  in  Montgomery  County.  Her  life  was 
written  in  XhQ  Port  Folio  of  1809  (page  524), 
Letters  from  her  appear  in  various  numbers 
of  that  magazine,  always  signed  "  Laura." 
Nathaniel  Evans  wooed  Miss  Graeme  as 
"  Laura"  in  true  Petrarchan  fashion.  The 
Philadelphia  Library  possesses  the  MS.  of  a 
translation  of  Fenelon  by  Mrs.  Ferguson. 

She  visited  Europe  in  company  with  Dr. 
Richard  Peters,  of  Philadelphia,  and  every- 
where her  brilliant  conversation  and  refined 
manners  won  her  recognition  and  applause  in 
literary  society.  Laurence  Sterne  was  fas- 
cinated by  her.  "  She  took  a  seat  upon  the 
same  stage  with  him  at  the  York  races.  While 
bets  were  making  upon  different  horses,  she 
selected  a  small  horse  that  was  in  the  rear  of 
the  coursers  as  the  subject  of  a  trifling  wager. 
Upon  being  asked  the  reason  for  doing  so,  she 
said  '  the  race  was  not  always  to  the  swift  nor 
the  battle  to  the  strong.'  Mr.  Sterne,  who 
stood  near  to  her,  was  struck  with  this  reply, 
and  turning  hastily  toward  her  begged  for  the 
honor  of  her  acquaintance.  They  soon  be- 
9 


130  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

came  sociable,  and  a  good  deal  of  pleasant 
conversation  took  place  between  them  to  the 
great  entertainment  of  the  surrounding  com- 
pany "  (Knapp,  "  Female  Biography,"  page 
217). 

She  wrote  a  parody  upon  Pope  which  was 
printed  with  Nathaniel  Evans'  poems  (1772): 

How  happy  is  the  country  parson's  lot ! 

Forgetting  bishops,  as  by  them  forgot ; 

Tranquil  of  spirit,  with  an  easy  mind, 

To  all  his  vestry's  votes  he  sits  resigned. 

Of  manners  gentle  and  of  temper  even, 

He  jogs  his  flocks,  with  easy  pace,  to  heaven. 

In  Greek  and  Latin  pious  books  he  keeps, 

And,  while  his  clerk  sings  psalms,  he — soundly  sleeps. 

His  garden  fronts  the  sun's  sweet  orient  beams, 

And  fat  church-wardens  prompt  bis  golden  dreams. 

The  earliest  fruit  in  his  fair  orchard  blooms, 

And  cleanly  pipes  pour  out  tobacco  fumes. 

From  rustic  bridegroom  oft  he  takes  the  ring, 

And  hears  the  milkmaid  plaintive  ballads  sing. 

Back-gammon  cheats  whole  winter  nights  away. 

And  Pilgrim's  Progress  helps  a  rainy  day. 

Alexander  Wilson  was  born  in  Paisley, 
Scotland,  July  6,  1766,  and  died  in  Philadel- 
phia, August  23,  1 8 13.  "  The  Poems  and 
Literary  Prose  of  Alexander  Wilson "  was 
edited   by   A.  B.   Grosart,  and  published  at 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  I3I 

Paisley  in  1876.  "With  the  exception  of 
Allen  Ramsay,  Ferguson  and  Burns,  none  of 
our  Scottish  vernacular  poets  have  been  so 
continuously  kept  in  print  as  Alexander  Wil- 
son "  (Grosart).  Seven  biographies  of  him 
attest  the  lively  interest  felt  in  his  personality 
and  his  work.  In  Scotland  he  was  apprenticed 
to  a  weaver,  and,  after  serving  his  time,  he 
continued  to  work  at  the  loom  for  four  years 
more.  He  published  "  Watty  and  Meg  "  in 
1792,  an  anonymous  poem,  the  authorship  of 
which  was  commonly  ascribed  to  Robert 
Burns.  He  came  to  America  in  1794,  worked 
for  a  year  at  his  trade,  and  subsequently  taught 
at  various  schools  in  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey.  In  1802  he  settled  at  Kingsessing, 
now  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  close  by  the 
home  of  Bartram,  the  botanist.  Here  he 
taught  the  "  Union  "  School.  It  was  in  a  pic- 
turesque spot.  Before  its  doors  were  cedars 
and  *'  stripling  poplars  planted  in  a  row,  and 
old  gray  white  oaks." 

But  birds  were  more  attractive  to  him  than 
boys.  They  commanded  him,  as  the  nightin- 
gale did  the  gypsy  steward,  and  he  followed 
them  into  untrodden  wildernesses.     Thomas 


132  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Bradford  undertook  to  publish  Wilson's 
colossal  "  Ornithology."  It  was  to  be  dis- 
tinctly an  ''  American  "  work.  It  was  to  be 
printed  on  American  paper ;  and  Amies,  the 
paper-maker,  even  declared  that  he  would  use 
only  "  American  "  rags  in  making  it.  Seven 
volumes  appeared  during  the  author's  life,  or 
between  1808  and  18 13. 

Wilson  published  the  ''Rural  Walk"  in 
Brown's  Literary  Magazine  of  August,  1804, 
and  the  "  Solitary  Tutor  "  in  the  same  publi- 
cation, October,  1804.  The  former  poem  was 
reprinted  in  the  Port  Folio  oi  K'^xW  27,  1805. 
Dennie  was  charmed  with  the  poem,  and  ex- 
plained that  he  reprinted  it  because  the  author 
"  delights  in  pictures  of  American  scenery  and 
landscape,  and  wisely  therefore  leaves  to 
European  poets  their  nightingales  and  sky- 
larks, and  their  dingles  and  dells.  He  makes 
no  mention  of  yews  and  myrtles,  nor  echoes  a 
single  note  of  either  bullfinch  or  chaffinch,  but 
faithfully  describes  American  objects,  though 
not  entirely  in  the  American  idiom."  The 
following  four  stanzas  from  the  "  Rural  Walk  " 
may  give  a  conception  of  Wilson's  close  ob- 
servation and  nice  fidelity  to  nature. 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  I  33 

*'  Down  to  the  left  was  seen  afar 

The  whitened  spire  of  sacred  name,* 
And  ars'nal,  where  the  god  of  war 
Has  hung  his  spears  of  bloody  fame. 

"  There  upward  where  it  (Schuylkill)  gently  bends, 
And  Say's  red  fortress  tow'rs  in  view,! 
The  floating  bridge  its  length  extends — 
A  lively  scene  forever  new. 

"  There  market-maids  in  lively  rows, 

With  wallets  white,  were  riding  home, 
And  thundering  gigs,  with  powdered  beaux, 
Through  Gray's  green  festive  shades  to  roam. 

**  Sweet  flows  the  Schuylkill's  winding  tide 
By  Bartram's  green  emblossom'd  bowers, 
Where  nature  sports  in  all  her  pride 
Of  choicest  plants  and  fruits  and  flowers." 

Wilson,  in  1804,  undertook  a  journey  to 
Niagara.  The  adventures  by  the  way  and 
the  sight  of  the  stupendous  cataract  supply 
the  theme  of  his  longest  and  most  ambitious 
poem,  "  The  Foresters."  It  was  published 
with  illustrations  in  successive  numbers  of 
the  Port  Folio  of  1809,  Volumes  I,  II  and  III. 
The  entire  poem  contained  2,000  lines.     The 

*  Christ  Church. 

f  Dr.  Benjamin  Say's  house  at  Gray's  Ferry. 


134  PHILADELPHIA   MAGAZINES. 

Literary  Magazme  contains  a  part  of  the 
poem.  This  appearance,  I  believe,  has  never 
been  noted.  It  is  to  be  found  in  Volume  IV, 
page  155.  The  lines  were  written  August  12, 
1805,  and  were  published  in  the  same  month. 
In  the  literary  intelligence  of  the  same  month 
the  future  publication  of  "  The  Foresters  "  is 
glanced  at. 

A  prose  letter  and  a  poem,  **  The  Pilgrim," 
by  Wilson,  are  in  the  Port  Folio,  June,  1809, 
page  499.  Alexander  Wilson  and  John  James 
Audubon  met  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  whither  the 
latter  had  gone  after  disposing  of  his  farm 
upon  the  Perkiomen  Creek,  near  Philadelphia. 
Wilson  conceived  a  dislike  for  Audubon,  and 
wrote  to  the  Port  Folio  concerning  Louisville, 
"  Science  or  literature  has  not  one  friend  in 
this  place."  Audubon,  into  whose  mind  no 
thought  of  publishing  his  own  fine  drawings 
had  yet  come,  refused  out  of  jealousy  to  add 
his  name  to  the  subscription  list  for  Wilson's 
"American  Ornithology."  Robert  Buchanan 
wrote,  "  If  Audubon  had  one  marked  fault  it 
was  vanity;  he  was  a  queer  compound  of 
Actseon  and  Narcissus — having  a  gun  in  one 
hand   and    flourishing  a  looking-glass   in  the 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  1 35 

other."  Grosart  is  much  too  severe  when  he 
styles  Audubon  *'  a  great  dilettante  impostor." 

After  Wilson's  death  three  supplementary 
volumes  to  his  "  Ornithology "  were  added 
by  Charles  Lucien  Bonaparte,  and  it  was  Lu- 
cien  Bonaparte's  son,  Prince  Canino,  who  first 
suggested  to  Audubon  the  publication  of  his 
collections. 

One  of  Wilson's  most  intimate  friends  was 
the  engraver  Alexander  Lawson,  with  whom 
he  became  acquainted  through  William  Bar- 
tram,  and  from  whom  he  learned  to  draw. 
Lawson  was  born  in  Lanarkshire,  Scotland, 
December  19,  1772.  He  came  to  Philadel- 
phia in  1792,  engraved  four  plates  for  Thom- 
son's ''Seasons"  for  Thomas  Dobson,  and 
died  in  1846.  His  daughter,  Mary  Lockhart, 
was  a  contributor  to  Graham  s  Magazine. 

It  was  Wilson's  wish  that  he  should  be 
buried  "in  some  rural  spot  where  the  birds 
might  sing  over  his  grave."  His  wish  was 
fulfilled,  and  his  body  was  laid  away  in  the 
quiet  old-world  burial  ground  of  old  Swedes' 
Church. 

Samuel  Ewing  was  born  in  Philadelphia 
August  16,  1776.  He  was  placed  in  the 
counting   house   of    John    Swanwick.     Upon 


136  PHILADELPHIA  MAGAZINES. 

the  failure  of  his  employer,  Ewing  studied  law, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1800.  He  was 
a  contributor  to  the  Port  Folio  from  the  first. 
He  wrote  for  it  a  series  of  articles,  entitled 
"  Reflections  in  Solitude."  All  his  contribu- 
tions were  signed  ''Jacques." 

In  1809  he  founded  The  Select  Reviews  and 
Spirit  of  the  Foreign  Magazines,  which  he 
edited  for  three  years,  until  it  was  sold  to  Mr. 
Thomas  and  the  title  changed  to  the  Analectic^ 
when  the  editorship  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Washington  Irving.  Samuel  Ewing  helped 
to  establish  the  AtheiicBum  in  Philadelphia, 
and  was  for  a  time  vice-president  of  that  insti- 
tution. He  died  in  Philadelphia,  February  8, 
1825.  Samuel  Ewing's  father  was  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  Ewing,  Provost  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  whose  contributions  have  been 
noted  in  the  earlier  magazines.  A  short  ac- 
count of  his  life  is  prefixed  to  his  lectures  on 
natural  philosophy,  *'  A  Plain  Elementary  and 
Practical  System  of  Natural  Experimental 
Philosophy.  By  the  late  Rev.  John  Ewing. 
Philadelphia,  1809.  Revised  by  Robert  Pat- 
terson." John  Ewing  was  born  June  22, 
1732,  in  Nottingham,  Cecil  County,  Maryland ; 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       1 3/ 

was  graduated  from  Princeton  1752;  received 
the  degree  of  D.D.  from  Edinburgh ;  enjoyed 
the  friendship  of  Robertson,  the  historian,  and 
died  in  Philadelphia,  September  8,  1802.  An 
interesting  anecdote  is  related  in  the  life  of 
Dr.  Ewing  (page  16).  In  1773  he  dined  at 
Dilly's  with  Dr.  Johnson.  He  remembered 
the  silence  that  fell  when  Johnson  entered  the 
room.  ''  He  attended  to  nothing  but  his  plate ; 
.  .  .  .  having  eaten  voraciously,  he  raised 
his  head  slowly,  and  looking  round  the  table 
surveyed  the  guests  for  the  first  time."  The 
conversation  turning  upon  America,  Ewing 
defended  the  colonies.  "  What  do  you  know, 
sir,  on  the  subject?"  Johnson  demanded. 
Ewing  had  been  cautioned  to  avoid  contra- 
diction, but  the  warning  was  forgotten.  '*  Sir, 
what  do  you  know  in  America;  you  never 
read;  you  have  no  books  there,"  thundered 
on  the  "  great  cham."  "  Pardon  me,  sir," 
blandly  replied  the  Philadelphian, "  we  have 
read  the  *  Rambler.'  "  This  civility  instantly 
pacified  him. 

This  anecdote  reminds  us  that  the  Ameri- 
cans did  not  always  fall  their  crests  when  in 
the  presence  of  Dr.  Johnson.     It  is  a  familiar 


138  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

story  that  when  Johnson  demanded  of  Gilbert 
Stuart,  "  Sir,  where  did  you  learn  English  ?  '* 
the  ready-witted  young  artist  replied,  "  Out 
of  your  dictionary,  sir."  Bishop  William 
White,  first  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  has  left, 
in  a  letter  to  Bishop  Hobart,  his  memory  of 
an  interview  with  "that  giant  of  genius  and 
literature,  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson."  *'  Having 
dined  in  company  with  him  in  Kensington,  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Elphinstone,  well  known  to 
scholars  of  that  day,  and  returning  in  the 
stage-coach  with  the  doctor,  I  mentioned  to 
him  there  being  a  Philadelphia  edition  of  his 
'Prince  of  Abyssinia.'  He  expressed  a  wish 
to  see  it.  I  promised  to  send  him  a  copy  on 
my  return  to  Philadelphia,  and  did  so.  He 
returned  a  polite  answer,  which  I  printed  in 
Mr.  Boswell's  second  edition  of  his  '  Life  of 
the  Doctor.' "  Richard  Rush  relates  in  the 
Por^  Folio  that  when  his  father,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Rush,  attended  a  meeting  of  "  The  Club  "  in 
London,  Goldsmith  asked  him  a  question 
about  the  North  American  Indians,  when 
Johnson  remarked  that  there  was  not  an 
Indian  in  North  America  foolish  enough  to 
ask  such  a  question.     Whereupon  Goldsmith 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       1 39 

retorted,  "  There  is  not  a  savage  in  America, 
sir,  rude  enough  to  make  such  a  speech  to  a 
gentleman." 

Dr.  Ewing's  daughter,  Sarah,  born  in  Phila- 
delphia October  30,  1 761,  married,  John  Hall, 
of  Baltimore,  the  son  of  a  Maryland  planter. 
In  January,  1824,  she  contributed  to  the  Port 
Folio  "A  Picture  of  Philadelphia  as  it  is."  In 
a  letter  to  a  Scotchwoman  (1821)  she  wrote  : 
"  Your  flattering  inquiry  about  my  literary 
career  may  be  answered  in  a  word.  Literature 
has  no  career  in  America.  It  is  like  wine, 
which  we  are  told  must  cross  the  ocean  to 
make  it  good."  Sarah  Hall  died  in  Philadel- 
phia April  8,  1830. 

Her  eldest  son,  John  Elihu  Hall,  was  born 
in  Philadelphia  December  27,  1783;  studied 
law,  and  edited  the  American  Law  Journal 
1 808-1 8 1 7.  He  was  for  a  time  professor  of 
rhetoric  in  the  University  of  Maryland.  In 
the  Port  Folio  of  March,  1806,  encouraged  by 
Thomas  Moore,  he  commenced  the  publica- 
tion of  the  ''Memoirs  of  Anacreon,"  but  sus- 
pended the  work  after  a  few  instalments  had 
appeared.  In  1820  (Vol.  IX,  p.  401),  he  re- 
sumed the  articles.     Most  of  the  Anacreontic 


140  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

odes  occur,  and  the  "biographical  tissue"  gave 
the  papers  a  resemblance  to  Hardwicke's 
"Athenian  Letters  "and  to  the  "  Anacharsis  "  of 
Abbe  Barthelemy .  "  Sedley  "  was  the  signature 
used  by  J.  E.  Hall  in  his  Port  Folio  papers. 
In  1812  he  published  serially  in  that  magazine 
his  literary  miscellany,  entitled  "Adversaria." 

His  brother,  James,  born  in  Philadelphia 
August  19,  1793,  died  near  Cincinnati,  July 
15,  1868,  published  in  the  Port  Folio  of  1821 
his  "  Letters  from  the  West,"  afterward  pub- 
lished in  book  form  by  John  Elihu.  An- 
other brother,  Thomas  Mifflin  Hall  (1798- 
1828),  wrote  several  poems  for  the  magazine. 
Harrison  Hall  (1785-1866),  a  third  brother, 
published  the  Port  Folio  and  wrote  a  book  on 
"Distillation,"  which  went  through  several 
editions  here,  and  was  reprinted  in  England. 

John  Elihu  Hall  became  editor  of  the 
Port  Folio  in  February,  18 16.  Its  history  up 
to  that  time  may  be  briefly  stated.  It  was  at 
first  a  weekly  quarto,  printed  by  H,  Max- 
well and  sold  by  William  Fry,  opposite 
Christ  Church.  In  1806  the  quarto  size  was 
changed  to  octavo.  In  1809  the  magazine 
appeared  monthly  instead  of  weekly,  and  con- 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  I4I 

tinued  from  that  time  to  be  a  monthly  publi- 
cation. In  the  prospectus  issued  at  the  time 
of  this  change  the  magazine  was  said  to  be 
"edited  by  Oliver  Oldschool,  assisted  by  a 
confederacy  of  men  of  letters."  In  its  new 
dress  it  '*  cherished  the  hope  that  it  might 
bear  a  comparison  with  any  of  the  foreign 
journals."  In  1804  the  price  had  been  raised 
to  six  dollars.  The  issue  of  July  21,  1804,  was 
in  deep  black  lines,  in  mourning  for  Alexander 
Hamilton.  The  issue  of  July  23,  1808,  was  a 
memorial  number  to  Fisher  Ames.  The 
"Oliver  Oldschool  "  figurehead  was  abandoned 
in  January,  181 1,  and  "conducted  by  Jos. 
Dennie,  Esq.,"  took  its  place ;  for,  the  editor 
explained,  "  Since  the  magazine  is  no  longer 
political,  the  appellation  of  Oliver  Oldschool  is 
no  longer  expedient  or  necessary."  During 
Dennie's  last  illness  his  place  in  the  editorial 
chair  was  taken  by  Paul  Allen  (i 775-1 826), 
who  wrote  poems,  and  prepared  the  "  Travels 
of  Lewis  and  Clarke  "  for  the  press,  and  who 
must  not  be  confounded  with  another  eccentric 
Bohemian,  James  Allen,  brother  to  the  Sheriff 
of  Suffolk,  who  wrote  under  the  inspiration  of 
the    West    Indian    muses — sugar,   rum    and 


142  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

lemon-juice — who    "  wore    ruffles — and    they 
hung  in  tatters  about  his  knuckles." 

January,  1812,  told  of  Dennie's  death  and 
"  that  the  confederacy  of  scholars  disbanded 
almost  as  soon  as  it  was  formed."  At  this 
time  the  Port  Folio  was  the  oldest  literary 
journal  in  America. 

Nicholas  Biddle  became  the  next  editor. 
He  supplied  the  magazine  with  a  number  of 
articles  upon  paintings,  old  and  new,  and  re- 
signed his  charge  early  in  18 12.  Dr.  Charles 
Caldwell  was  requested  to  succeed  him.  "  I 
accepted  the  proposal,"  he  says,  in  his  ''Au- 
tobiography," "in  less  than  a. minute,  and 
in  less  than  one  hour  began  to  prepare 
for  the  performance  of  the  duty  it  enjoined" 
(Autobiography,  page  322).  Caldwell  en- 
tered upon  his  task  under  an  engagement  to 
furnish  ninety-eight  pages  of  matter  for  each 
number,  and  this  matter  would  have  to  be  to  a 
great  extent  original.  In  six  months  Caldwell 
increased  the  number  of  subscribers  twenty- 
five  per  cent.  The  war  naturally  became  the 
theme  of  greatest  interest.  General  Brown 
declared  that  **  he  reported  himself,  and  or- 
dered his  officers  to  report  themselves  in  their 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       1 43 

connection  with  all  intenesting  events  of  the 
army,  as  regularly  to  the  editor  of  the  Port 
Folio  as  they  did  to  him,  or  as  he  did  to  the 
Secretary  of  War."  In  this  way  the  maga- 
zine obtained  some  interesting  and  valuable 
biographical  notes  of  military  and  naval  offi- 
cers. Dr.  Caldwell  employed  as  assistant 
editor  the  famous  and  versatile  Thomas 
Cooper.  Cooper  was  an  Englishman,  who  was 
born  in  London  in  1759,  and  had  been  a 
member  of  the  National  Assembly  of  France. 
He  quarrelled  with  Robespierre,  and  chal- 
lenged him  to  a  duel.  Robespierre  swore  re- 
venge, and  Cooper,  knowing  that  flight  alone 
could  save  him  from  the  Jacobin  Club,  returned 
to  England.  He  was  censured  by  Burke,  and 
replied  in  a  bitter  and  abusive  pamphlet.  He 
followed  his  intimate  friend,  Mr.  Priestley,  to 
America  and  lived  with  him  at  Northumber- 
land, where  Coleridge  and  Southey  dreamed 
of  establishing  an  Eden  of  Pantisocracy. 
When  Cooper  came  to  Philadelphia,  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson  and  Jay  and  Madison 
were  there.  Cooper  lent  his  pen  to  Jeffer- 
son and  the  Democrats,  and  was  paid  by  them. 
He  was  appointed  to  a  judgeship,  but  soon  re- 


144  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

moved.  He  was  elected  professor  of  chem- 
istry and  moral  philosophy  in  Dickinson 
College,  and  from  there  he  went  to  the  chair 
of  chemistry  in  Columbia  College,  South 
Carolina.  He  left  Philadelphia  in  1819,  and 
died  in  the  South  in  1840. 

Judge  Workman  was  a  second  assistant 
writer.  The  most  extensive  contributions  that 
Dr.  Caldwell  made  to  the  magazine  were  his 
reviews  of  "  An  Essay  on  the  Causes  of  the 
Variety  of  Complexion  and  Figure  of  the 
Human  Species,"  by  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith, 
President  of  Princeton  College.  The  reviews 
covered  ninety  pages  and  dealt  with  a  philo- 
sophical and  experimental  examination  of  the 
strange  case  of  Henry  Moss,  a  Maryland 
negro,  whose  name,  as  Dr.  Caldwell  says,  is 
as  well  known  to  the  readers  of  periodicals  as 
was  that  of  John  Adams  or  Thomas  Jefferson 
or  James  Madison.  Moss  was  a  full-blooded 
African,  whose  skin,  save  in  a  few  spots,  turned 
white.  Caldwell's  critiques  appeared  in  the 
Port  Folio,  1 8 14,  pp.  8  and  457,  and  also  in  the 
American  Review^  H,  128,  166. 

Dr.  Caldwell  at  this  time  edited  Delaplaine's 
Repository,  and  Smith  had  his  revenge  in  a 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.      I 45 

telling  criticism  of  that  work  in  the  Analectic 
Magazine,  \.o  which  Caldwell  replied  in  1816. 
To  finish  the  story,  there  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Port  Folio  of  1820,  page  153,  an  article  on  S. 
S.  Smith,  with  portrait,  which  is  as  ample  in 
praise  of  the  essay  as  Caldwell  was  liberal  in 
detraction.  Caldwell  resigned  his  editorship 
in  1 8 16.  In  the  next  month  Oliver  Oldschool 
the  Fourth  made  his  appearance  in  the  person 
of  John  Elihu  Hall. 

The  magazine  was  still  well  manned  and 
well  maintained.  Philadelphia  still  kept  her 
leadership  in  culture  and  literary  production. 
In  1 8 14  only  twenty  new  books  were  annually 
put  forth  in  America,  and  yet  in  April  of 
that  year  the  Port  Folio  declared,  *'  From 
facts  within  our  own  knowledge,  we  fearlessly 
assert  that  Philadelphia  contains  scholars  not 
a  few  whom  Europe  herself  would  be  proud 
to  acknowledge."  In  1 8 1 7  the  London  Monthly 
Magazine  began  to  copy  from  the  Port  Folio. 

But  about  1820  the  prestige  of  Philadelphia 
begins  to  fade  and  her  ancient  influences  to 
hang  about  her  **  like  a  giant's  robe  upon  a 
dwarfish  thief."     In  this  year  (Port  Folio,  page 


146  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

463)  is  heard  the  first  note  of  alarm.  New- 
England  is  gaining ;  "  with  such  rivalry  Phil- 
adelphia must  yield  the  proud  title  which  she 
has  borne,  or  rouse  from  the  withering  leth- 
argy in  which  she  slumbers."  New  York 
jealousy  is  increasing.  In  1820  Salmagundi 
says  that  "  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Port  Folio 
was  discharged — for  writing  common-sense." 
These  trifles  indicate  a  shifting  of  the  balance 
of  power.  Three  years  more,  and  the  cry  of 
discontent  and  peevish  querulousness  reaches 
its  height. 

'*With  the  exception  of  some  scores  of 
verses  *  tempered  with  lovers'  sighs'  and 
oozing  from  the  brains  of 'lunatics,  lovers  and 
poets,'  the  last  volume  contains  very  few  com- 
munications from  any  friend  to  us  and  our 
cause.  In  the  days  of  our  first  predecessors 
such  was  the  number  and  zeal  of  contributors 
that  the  editor  was  obliged  to  exchange  the 
labor  of  composition  for  that  of  selection,  and 
he  often  expatiated  with  gratitude  upon  the 
learning,  the  liberality  and  the  industry  of  his 
voluntary  assistants.  Although  they  wore 
their  visors  up  before  the  public,  most  of  them 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 47 

are  now  known  to  us,  and  we  can  recognize 
many  of  them  at  home  and  abroad,  pushing 
their  fortunes  at  the  bar,  in  the  desk  or  the 
academy,  or  serving  their  country  in  high 
and  honorable  stations.  They  were  all  quick- 
ened with  the  fervid  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
adventure.  They  combined  learning  and  wit 
and  genius  with  industry,  perseverance  and 
ambition.  They  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
work  which  has  outlived  all  its  rivals  and  con- 
temporaries ;  but  they  have  left  few  to  inherit 
and  emulate  their  disinterested  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  letters.  .  .  .  England,  that 
detestable  country  where  everyone  has  been 
starving  for  the  last  century,  where  everyone 
has  been  crushed  by  the  load  of  taxes,  and 
everyone  has  been  flying  from  home  to  avoid 
the  oppressions  of  the  Ministry,  prints  several 
thousand  copies  of  a  magazine,  and  the  whole 
edition  is  sold  and  paid  for  in  twenty-four 
hours.  These  matters  are  ordered  differently 
here.  Instead  of  purchasing  our  newspapers 
and  magazines  we  subscribe  for  them." 

Alack-a-day !  the  world  went  very  well  in 
the  consulship  of  Plancus!      No  doubt  even 


148  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

in  the  best  and  soundest  of  their  times  the 
magazines  did  suffer  by  the  subscription  plan. 
The  remaining  stock  of  the  Analectic  Maga- 
zine was  sold  for  seven  cents  a  volume  in 
sheets,  and  the  stock  of  the  Literary  Gazette, 
its  successor,  brought  but  six  and  a  quarter 
cents  per  pound. 

Hall  took  the  opportunity  presented  by 
the  publication  of  '*  The  Lives  of  the  Signers," 
by  his  friend  and  contributor,  John  Sander- 
son, to  trouble  the  deaf  public  again  with  his 
bootless  cries: 

''  Oh  !  that  we  could  boast  a  reading  public  ; 
and  that  we  could  say,  with  truth,  that  any 
other  books  than  a  few  novels  and  poems  and, 
generally,  an  elegant  folio  Bible,  kept  for  or- 
nament and  family  dignity,  were  to  be  found 
in  half  the  splendid  mansions  of  Philadelphia. 
But  'we  can  procure  the  book  at  the  Phila- 
delphia Library.'  Yes,  and  the  author  of  an 
excellent  work  must  be  left  to  beg  and  starve, 
and  his  wife  and  children  must  be  doomed  to 
penury  because  their  natural  protector  was  a 
literary  man  and  an  author,  who  conferred 
honour  on  his  species.     Burn  the  Philadelphia 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       I49 

Library,  we  say.  Aye  !  biwn  it !  if  this  must 
be  its  influence,  to  deprive  meritorious  authors 
and  enterprising  artists  of  their  sustenance 
and  of  the  means  of  continuing  their  labours. 
Let  those  who  cannot  afford  to  purchase  val- 
uable works,  who  wish  to  peruse  scarce  tomes, 
the  work  of  former  generations,  resort  to  the 
library ;  but  let  our  rich  merchants,  our 
thrifty  lawyers  and  the  elegantly  neat  Quaker 
proprietors  of  the  soil  of  this  city,  who  have 
sons  and  daughters  to  be  educated  for  useful- 
ness and  happiness,  be  ashamed  to  creep  into 
the  repository  of  rare,  ancient  and  learned 
volumes,  and  ask  in  a  soft  voice  of  the 
librarian,  'Is  Smiderson's  Biography  in? '  and 
to  add,  ' My  daughters  wish  to  see  it'  " 

In  1822  the  Port  Folio  was  reduced  to  mak- 
ing selections  from  the  literary  and  political 
journals  of  Europe  after  the  manner  of  The 
Select  Reviews  which  Ewing  had  edited. 

The  final  suspension  of  the  Port  Folio  was 
preceded  by  an  international  quarrel.  John 
Neal  was  in  England  in  1834,  and  his  offer  to 
write  for  Blackwood's  Magazine  in  that  year 
a  series   of  sketches   of ''American  writers'* 


150  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

was  accepted,  and  the  first  instalment  appeared 
in  Blackwood's  of  September,  1824,  page  305. 
The  author  could  name  only  three  writers 
"who  would  not  pass  just  as  readily  for  an 
English  writer  as  for  an  American."  The  trio 
consisted  of  Paulding,  Neal  and  Brown.  The 
article  was  signed  "X.  Y.  Z."  and  was  written 
in  the  favorite  Blackwood's  "  bludgeon"  style. 
Neal  says  of  himself,  "  He  is  undeniably  the 
most  original  writer  that  America  has  pro- 
duced— thinks  himself  the  cleverest  fellow  in 
America,  and  does  not  scruple  to  say  so — he 
is  in  Europe  now."  When  he  approached  the 
date  of  the  Port  Folio,  Neal  paid  his  compli- 
ments, displaying  unmistakable  malice,  to  John 
E.  Hall.  "  Hall  had  the  misfortune,  some 
years  ago,  to  fall  acquainted  with  Mr.  Thomas 
Moore,  the  poet,  while  Mr.  Moore  was  '  tram- 
poosing '  over  America.  It  spoilt  poor  Hall — 
turned  his  brain.  He  has  done  little  or  noth- 
ing since  but  make-believe  about  criticism, 
talk  dawdle-poetry  with  a  lisp,  write  irresist- 
ible verses  under  the  name  of  '  Sedley '  in  his 
own  magazine,  twitter  sentimentally  about 
'  little  Moore,'  his  '  dear  little  Moore  ' — puffing 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  I5I 

himself  all  the  time  anonymously  in  the  news- 
paper, while  he  is  damning  himself,  with  un- 
mistakable sincerity,  twelve  times  a  year  in 
his  own  magazine.  We  do  not  think  very 
highly  of  the  mutton-headed  Athenians  at 
Philadelphia ;  but  we  do  think,  nevertheless, 
that  Mr.  John  E.  Hall  is  a  little  too  much  of 
a    blockhead  even  for  their  meridian." 

Hall  published  a  scathing  review  in  the 
Port  Folio,  December,  1824,  of  the  author  of 
"  Logan  "  and  "  Randolph,"  the  Baltimorean 
who  was  writing  for  Blackwood's.  In  volume 
19  (1825,  p.  jZ)  this  "  nauseous  reptile  "  is  still 
further  reviewed.  Neal  is  quoted  as  saying, 
"Dennie  is  dead,  John  E.  Hall  is  alive; 
Dennie  was  a  gentleman,  John  E.  Hall  is  a 
blackguard;"  and  Hall  retorts  that  Neal  is  a 
"  liar  of  the  first  magnitude,"  who  prefers 
*'  English  guineas  to  Baltimore  horsewhips." 

The  Port  Folio  w^as  now  making  a  desperate 
struggle  for  life.  Its  publication  was  sus- 
pended from  January  to  July,  1826,  and  again 
from  January  to  July,  1827.  Its  budget  was 
finally  closed  in  December,  1827. 


152  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

FROM    THE    PORT    FOLIO   TO    GRAHAM'S. 

The  Ladies'  Muse2iin  was  commenced  in 
February,  1800,  and  made  five  numbers. 

The  Philadelphia  Repository  and  Weekly 
Register  was  commenced  in  1801.  It  was 
edited  and  published  by  David  Hogan,  and 
later  by  John  W.  Scott.  It  was  popular  and 
original. 

The  first  magazine  published  in  America 
for  children  appeared  in  Philadelphia  in  1802 
— the  Juvenile  Magazine,  or  Miscellaneous 
Repository  of  Useful  Information,  Phila.,  1802, 
printed  for  Benjamin  Johnson  and  Jacob 
Johnston. 

It  was  followed  by  the  Juvenile  Olio  in  the 
same  year.  This  magazine  was  edited  by 
''  Amyntor  "  a  citizen  of  Philadelphia,  and  was 
published  by  David  Hogan. 

Charles  Brockden  Brown,  the  most  impor- 
tant of  Philadelphia  writers,  the  first  profes- 
sional man-of-letters  in  America,  and  the  pre- 
decessor of  all  cis-Atlantic  novelists,  was  born 
in  Philadelphia,  January  17,  1771,  and  in  that 
city  he  founded,  in  1803-4,  the  Literary  Maga- 
zine and  American  Register. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  I53 

Brown  had  been  educated  until  his  six- 
teenth year  in  the  school  of  Robert  Proud, 
the  historian  of  Pennsylvania.  He  then 
studied  law  with  Alexander  Wilcox,  of  Phila- 
delphia. His  health,  which  had  been  ever 
poor,  suffered  still  further  from  enthusiastic 
attention  to  the  needs  of  a  belles-lettres  club  of 
nine  members,  and  to  the  law  society  of  his 
native  city.  The  Cohmtbian  Magazine  of 
August,  1789,  contained  his  first  published 
article.  It  was  entitled  "The  Rhapsodist," 
and  was  continued  through  several  numbers 
of  the  magazine. 

A  close  friendship  sprang  up  between 
Brown  and  Elihu  Hubbard  Smith,  and  Brown 
made  his  home  in  New  York,  where  Smith 
introduced  him  to  "The  Friendly  Club." 
After  the  plague  visited  New  York  and  Smith 
died  of  the  fever.  Brown  returned  to  Philadel- 
phia to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

The  first  number  of  the  Literary  Magazine 
and  A^nerican  Register  was  published  by  John 
Conrad,  who  had  made  a  liberal  arrangement 
with  the  editor,  on  Saturday,  October  i,  1803. 
Brown's  prospectus,  which  filled  the  first  three 


154  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

pages,  is  so  characteristic  of  the  author,  and 
so  interesting  as  a  contemporary  comment 
upon  magazines  and  their  purposes,  as  to  ad- 
mit of  complete  quotation. 

The  Editor  s  Address  to  the  Public: 

"  It  is  usual  for  one  who  presents  the  public 
with  a  periodical  work  like  the  present,  to  in- 
troduce himself  to  the  notice  of  his  readers 
by  some  sort  of  preface  or  address.  I  take 
up  the  pen  in  conformity  to  this  custom, 
but  am  quite  at  loss  for  topics  suitable  to  so 
interesting  an  occasion.  I  cannot  expatiate 
on  the  variety  of  my  knowledge,  the  brilliancy 
of  my  wit,  the  versatility  of  my  talents.  To 
none  of  these  do  I  lay  any  claim,  and  though 
this  variety,  brilliancy  of  solidity,  are  neces- 
sary ingredients  in  a  work  of  this  kind,  I 
trust  merely  to  the  zeal  and  liberality  of  my 
friends  to  supply  me  with  them.  I  have  them 
not  myself,  but  doubt  not  of  the  good  offices 
of  those  who  possess  them,  and  shall  think 
myself  entitled  to  no  small  praise  if  I  am  able 
to  collect  into  one  focal  spot  the  rays  of  a 
great  number  of  luminaries.     They  also  may 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  I55 

be  very  unequal  to  each  other  in  lustre,  and 
some  of  them  may  be  little  better  than  twink- 
ling and  feeble  stars  of  the  hundredth  mag- 
nitude ;  but  what  is  wanting  in  individual 
splendour  will  be  made  up  by  the  union  of  all 
their  beams  into  one.  My  province  shall  be  to 
hold  the  mirror  up  so  as  to  assemble  all  their 
influence  within  its  verge,  and  reflect  them  on 
the  public  in  such  manner  as  to  warm  and 
enlighten. 

"As  I  possess  nothing  but  zeal  I  can  prom- 
ise to  exert  nothing  else ;  but  my  consolation 
is,  that  aided  by  that  powerful  spirit,  many 
have  accomplished  things  much  more  arduous 
than  that  which  I  propose  to  myself 

"  Many  are  the  works  of  this  kind  which 
have  risen  and  fallen  in  America,  and  many 
of  them  have  enjoyed  but  a  brief  existence. 
This  circumstance  has  always  at  first  sight 
given  me  some  uneasiness,  but  when  I  come 
more  soberly  to  meditate  upon  it  my  courage 
revives,  and  I  discover  no  reason  for  my 
doubts.  Many  works  have  actually  been 
reared  and  sustained  by  the  curiosity  and 
favour  of  the  public.     They  have  ultimately 


156  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

declined  or  fallen,  it  is  true  ;  but  why  ?  From 
no  abatement  of  the  public  curiosity,  but 
from  causes  which  publishers  or  editors  only 
are  accountable.  Those  who  managed  the 
publication  have  commonly  either  changed 
their  principles,  remitted  their  zeal,  or  volun- 
tarily relinquished  their  trade,  or  last  of  all, 
and  like  other  men,  have  died.  Such  works 
have  flourished  for  a  time,  and  they  ceased  to 
flourish,  by  the  fault  or  misfortune  of  the  pro- 
prietors. The  public  is  always  eager  to 
encourage  one  who  devotes  himself  to  their 
rational  amusement,  and  when  he  ceases  to 
demand  or  to  deserve  their  favour  they  feel 
more  regret  than  anger  in  withdrawing  it. 

"  The  world — by  which  I  mean  the  few  hun- 
dred persons  who  concern  themselves  about 
this  work — will  naturally  inquire  who  it  is 
that  thus  addresses  them.  '  This  is  some- 
what more  than  a  point  of  idle  curiosity,'  my 
reader  will  say,  '  for  from  my  knowledge  of 
the  man  must  I  infer  how  far  he  will  be  able 
or  willing  to  fulfil  his  promises.  Besides,  it 
is  great  importance  to  know  whether  his 
sentiments  on  certain  subjects  be  agreeable  or 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       I  5/ 

not  to  my  own.  In  politics,  for  example,  he 
may  be  a  malcontent ;  in  religion  an  heretic. 
He  may  be  an  ardent  advocate  for  all  that  I 
abhor,  or  he  may  be  a  celebrated  champion 
of  my  favourite  opinions.  It  is  evident  that 
these  particulars  must  dictate  the  treatment  you 
receive  from  me,  and  make  me  either  your  friend 
or  enemy :  your  patron  or  your  persecutor.  Be- 
sides, I  am  anxious  for  some  personal  knowl- 
edge of  you  that  I  may  judge  of  your  literary 
merits.  You  may  possibly  be  one  of  these, 
who  came  hither  from  the  old  world  to  seek 
your  fortune  ;  who  have  handled  the  pen  as 
others  handle  the  awl  or  needle ;  that  is,  for 
the  sake  of  a  livelihood,  and  who,  therefore, 
are  willing  to  work  on  any  kind  of  cloth  or 
leather,  and  to  any  model  that  may  be  in  de- 
mand. You  may,  in  the  course  of  your  trade, 
have  accommodated  yourself  to  twenty  differ- 
ent fashions,  and  have  served  twenty  classes  of 
customers ;  have  copied  at  one  time  a  Parisian, 
at  another  a  London  fashion,  and  have  truck- 
led to  the  humours,  now  of  a  precise  enthu- 
siast, and  now  of  a  smart  free-thinker. 

**"Tis  of  no  manner  of  importance  what 


158  PHILADELPHIA   MAGAZINES. 

creed  you  may  publicly  profess  on  this  occa- 
sion, or  on  what  side,  religious  or  political, 
you  may  declare  yourself  enlisted.  To  judge 
of  the  value  or  sincerity  of  these  professions, 
to  form  some  notion  how  far  you  will  faithfully 
or  skilfully  perform  your  part,  I  must  know 
your  character.  By  that  knowledge,  I  shall 
regulate  myself  with  more  certainty  than  by 
any  anonymous  declaration  you  may  think 
proper  to  make.' 

"  I  bow  to  the  reasonableness  of  these  obser- 
vations, and  shall  therefore  take  no  pains  to 
conceal  my  name.  Anybody  may  know  it 
who  chooses  to  ask  me  or  my  publisher.  I 
shall  not,  however,  put  it  at  the  bottom  of 
this  address.  My  diffidence,  as  my  friends 
would  call  it,  and  my  discretion,  as  my  ene- 
mies, if  I  have  any,  would  term  it,  hinders  me 
from  calling  out  my  name  in  a  crowd.  It  has 
heretofore  hindered  me  from  making  my  ap- 
pearance there,  when  impelled  by  the  strong- 
est of  human  considerations,  and  produces, 
at  this  time,  an  insuperable  aversion  to  naming 
myself  to  my  readers.  The  mere  act  of  calling 
out  my  own  name,  on  this  occasion,  is  of  no 
moment,  since  an  author  or  editor  who  takes 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       1 59 

no  pains  to  conceal  himself,  cannot  fail  of 
being  known  to  as  many  as  desire  to  know 
him.  And  whether  my  notoriety  make  for 
me  or  against  me,  I  shall  use  no  means  to 
prevent  it. 

"  I  am  far  from  wishing,  however,  that 
my  readers  should  judge  of  my  exertions 
by  my  former  ones.  I  have  written  much, 
but  take  much  blame  to  myself  for  some- 
thing which  I  have  written,  and  take  no 
praise  for  anything.  I  should  enjoy  a  larger 
share  of  my  own  respect,  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, if  nothing  had  ever  flowed  from  my  pen, 
the  production  of  which  could  be  traced  to 
me.  A  variety  of  causes  induces  me  to  form 
such  a  wish,  but  I  am  principally  influenced 
by  the  consideration  that  time  can  scarcely 
fail  of  enlarging  and  refining  the  powers 
of  a  man,  while  the  world  is  sure  to  judge  of 
his  capacities  and  principles  at  fifty,  from  what 
he  has  written  at  fifteen. 

"Meanwhile,  I  deem  it  reasonable  to  explain 
the  motives  of  the  present  publication,  and 
must  rely  for  credit  on  the  good  nature  of  my 
readers.  The  project  is  not  a  mercenary  one. 
Nobody  relies  for  subsistence  on  its  success. 


l60  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

nor  does  the  editor  put  anything  but  his  repu- 
tation at  stake.  At  the  same  time,  he  cannot 
but  be  desirous  of  an  ample  subscription,  not 
merely  because  pecuniary  profit  is  acceptable, 
but  because  this  is  the  best  proof  which  he  can 
receive  that  his  endeavuors  to  amuse  and  in- 
struct have  not  been  unsuccessful. 

"Useful  information  and  rational  amusement 
being  his  objects,  he  will  not  scruple  to  collect 
materials  from  all  quarters.  He  will  ransack 
the  newest  foreign  publications,  and  extract 
from  them  whatever  can  serve  his  purpose. 
He  will  not  forget  that  a  work,  which  solicits 
the  attention  of  many  readers,  must  build  its 
claim  on  the  variety  as  well  as  copiousness  of 
its  contents. 

''As  to  <^^;;^^.f/^^ publications,  besides  extract- 
ing from  them  anything  serviceable  to  the 
public,  he  will  give  a  critical  account  of  them, 
and,  in  this  respect,  make  his  work  an  Ameri- 
can Review,  in  which  the  history  of  our  native 
literature  shall  be  carefully  detailed. 

"  He  will  pay  particular  attention  to  the  his- 
tory of  passing  events.  He  will  carefully 
compile  the  news,  foreign  and  domestic,  of 
the  current  month,  and  give,  in  a  precise  and 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  l6l 

systematic  order,  that  intelligence  which  the 
common  newspapers  communicate  in  a  vague 
and  indiscriminate  way.  His  work  shall  like- 
wise be  a  repository  of  all  those  signal  inci- 
dents in  private  life,  which  mark  the  character 
of  the  age,  and  excite  the  liveliest  curiosity. 

"  This  is  an  imperfect  sketch  of  his  work,  and 
to  accomplish  these  ends,  he  is  secure  of  the 
liberal  aid  of  many  most  respectable  persons 
in  this  city  and  New  York.  He  regrets  the 
necessity  he  is  under  of  concealing  these 
names,  since  they  would  furnish  the  public 
with  irresistible  inducements  to  read  what, 
when  they  had  read,  they  would  find  suffi- 
ciently recommended  by  its  own  merits. 

"  In  an  age  like  this,  when  the  foundations  of 
religion  and  morality  have  been  so  boldly  at- 
tacked, it  seems  necessary,  in  announcing  a 
work  of  this  nature,  to  be  particularly  ex- 
plicit as  to  the  path  which  the  editor  means 
to  pursue.  He,  therefore,  avows  himself  to 
be,  without  equivocation  or  reserve,  the  ardent 
friend  and  the  willing  champion  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  Christian  piety  he  reveres  as 
the  highest  excellence  of  human  beings,  and 
the  amplest  reward  he  can  seek  for  his  labour 


1 62  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

is  the  consciousness  of  having,  in  some  degree, 
however  inconsiderable,  contributed  to  recom- 
mend the  practice  of  rehgious  duties. 

"As,  in  the  conduct  of  this  work,  a  supreme 
regard  will  be  paid  to  the  interests  of  religion 
and  morality,  he  will  scrupulously  guard 
against  all  that  dishonours  or  impairs  that  prin- 
ciple. Everything  that  savors  of  indelicacy  or 
licentiousness  will  be  rigorously  proscribed. 
His  poetical  pieces  may  be  dull,  but  they 
shall,  at  least,  be  free  from  voluptuousness  or 
sensuality,  and  his  prose,  whether  seconded 
or  not  by  genius  and  knowledge,  shall  scru- 
pulously aim  at  the  promotion  of  public  and 
private  virtue. 

"As  a  political  annalist,  he  will  speculate 
freely  on  foreign  transactions ;  but  in  his  de- 
tail of  domestic  events  he  will  confine  himself 
as  strictly  as  possible  to  the  limits  of  a  mere 
historian.  There  is  nothing  for  which  he  has 
a  deeper  abhorrence  than  the  intemperance  of 
party,  and  his  fundamental  rule  shall  be  to 
exclude  from  his  pages  all  personal  alterca- 
tion and  abuse. 

"  He  will  conclude  by  reminding  the  public 
that  there  is  not,  at  present,  any  other  monthly 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 63 

publication  in  America ;  and  that  a  plan  of 
this  kind,  if  well  conducted,  cannot  fail  of 
being  highly  conducive  to  amusement  and 
instruction.  There  are  many,  therefore,  It  is 
hoped,  who,  v/hen  such  a  herald  as  this  knocks 
at  their  door,  will  open  it  without  reluctance, 
and  admit  a  visitant  who  calls  only  once  a 
month  ;  who  talks  upon  every  topic ;  whose 
company  may  be  dismissed  or  resumed,  and 
who  may  be  made  to  prate  or  hold  his  tongue 
at  pleasure ;  a  companion  he  will  be,  possess- 
ing one  companionable  property  in  the  high- 
est degree — that  is  to  say,  a  desire  to  please. 
—Sep.  7,  1803:' 

The  contents  of  the  magazine  corresponded 
with  the  contents  of  the  Port  Folio  ;  there  were 
the  same  abuse  of  Wordsworth,  criticisms  of 
Milton  and  Shakespeare,  and  articles  upon 
"literary  resemblances."  In  November,  1803, 
Brown  began  to  publish  in  the  magazine  his 
"  Memoirs  of  Carwin,  the  Biloquist."  The 
following  poem,  written  during  the  prevalence 
of  the  yellow  fever,  in  1797,  appeared  in  the 
Literary  Magazine  for  September,  1 806. 


64  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

PHILADELPHIA— AN  ELEGY. 

Written  during  the  prevalence  of  the  Yellow  Fever  in 

Imperial  daughter  of  the  West, 

Why  thus  in  widow' d  weeds  recline  ? 

With  every  gift  of  nature  blest, 
The  empire  of  a  world  was  thine. 

Late  brighter  than  the  star  that  beams 
When  the  soft  morning  carol  flows : 

Now  mournful  as  the  maniac's  dreams, 
When  melancholy  veils  his  woes. 

W^hat  foe,  with  more  than  Gallic  ire, 
Has  thinned  thy  city's  thronging  way, 

Bade  the  sweet  breath  of  youth  expire, 
And  manhood's  powerful  pulse  decay  ? 

No  Gallic  foe's  ferocious  band, 
Fearful  as  fate,  as  death  severe, 

But  the  destroying  angel's  hand, 
With  hotter  rage,  with  fiercer  fear. 

I  saw  thee  in  thy  prime  of  days. 
In  glory  rich,  in  beauty  fair. 

When  many  a  patriot  shar'd  thy  praise, 
And  nurs'd  thee  with  maternal  care. 

Columbia's  genius,  veil  thy  brow, 
Guardian  of  freedom,  hither  bend  : 

The  prayer  of  mercy  meets  thee  now, 
With  healing  energy  descend. 

Chase  far  the  fiend  whose  burning  tread 
Consumes  the  fairest  flower  that  blows ; 

Bends  the  sweet  lily's  bashful  head, 
And  fades  the  bluslies  of  the  rose. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  i6K 

E'en  now  ill-omened  birds  of  prey 

Through  the  unpeopled  mansions  rove : 

Quench'd  is  that  eye's  inspiring  ray, 
And  lost  the  breezy  lip  of  love. 

Yet  guard  the  Friend,  who  wandering  near 
Haunts  which  the  loitering  Schuylkill  laves, 

Bestows  the  tributary  tear, 

Or  fans  with  sighs  the  drowsy  waves. 

And  while  his  mercy-dealing  hand 
Feeds  many  a  famished  child  of  care, 

Wave  round  his  brow  thy  saving  wand, 

And  breathe  thy  sweetness  through  the  air; 

'Till  borne  on  Health's  elastic  wing, 

Aloft  the  rapid  whirlwind  flies; 
The  coldest  gale  of  Zembla  bring, 

And  brace  with  frost  the  dripping  skies. 

Yet  bring  the  naiads,  bring  their  urns, 

Haste,  and  the  marble  fount  unclose, 
Through  streets  where  Syrian  summer  bums, 

Till  all  the  cool  libation  flows 

Cool  as   the  brook  that  bathes  the  heath 

When  noon  unfolds  his  silent  hours, 
Refreshing  as  the  morning's  breath 

Adown  the  cleansing  streamlet  pours. 

Imperial  daughter  of  the  West, 

No  rival  wins  thy  wreath  away  ; 
In  all  the  wealth  of  nature  drest. 

Again  thy  sovereign  charms  display ; 


l66  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

See  all  thy  setting  glories  rise, 

Again  thy  thronging  streets  appear ; 

Thy  mart  a  hundred  ports  supplies, 
Thy  harvests  feed  thy  circling  year. 

The  magazine  lived  five  years  and  made 
eight  volumes  octavo. 

In  1806  Brown  began  to  edit  and  John 
Conrad  to  publish  the  American  Register.  It 
contained  abstracts  of  laws  and  public  pro- 
ceedings, reviews  of  literature  and  of  foreign 
and  domestic  scientific  intelligence,  American 
and  foreign  State  papers,  etc.  After  five  vol- 
umes had  been  published,  Charles  Brockden 
Brown  died  in  his  house  at  Eleventh  and 
George  Streets,  on  the  19th  of  February, 
1 8 10.  It  was  in  this  house,  which  was  not 
upon  the  east  side  of  Eleventh  Street,  as 
Neal  asserted  in  Blackwood' s  Magazine,  nor 
was  it  "a  low,  squalid,  two-story  house,"  that 
Thomas  Sully  saw  him,  and  said  :  "  I  saw 
him  a  little  before  his  death.  I  had  never 
known  him — never  heard  of  him — never  read 
any  of  his  works.  He  was  in  a  deep  decline. 
It  was  in  the  month  of  November — our  In- 
dian summer,  when  the  air  is  full  of  smoke. 
Passing  a  window  one  day,  I  was  caught  by 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 6/ 

the  sight  of  a  man  with  a  remarkable  physi- 
ognomy, writing  at  a  table  in  a  dark  room. 
The  sun  shone  directly  upon  his  head.  I 
never  shall  forget  it.  The  dead  leaves  were 
falling  then — it  was  Charles  Brockden  Brown." 

Of  the  obscure  ground  in  which  the  body 
of  this  literary  pioneer  was  laid  George 
Lippard  wrote  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 
(p.  27) : 

"  The  time  has  come  when  the  authors  of 
America,  the  men  who  view  with  pride  the 
growth  of  a  pure  and  elevated  National  liter- 
ature, should  go  to  the  Quaker  graveyard 
and  bear  the  bones  of  Brockden  Brown  to 
that  Laurel  Hill  which  he  loved  in  his  boy- 
hood ;  yes,  let  the  remains  of  the  martyr 
author  sleep  beneath  the  shadow  of  some 
dark  pine,  whose  evergreen  boughs,  swaying 
to  the  winter  wind,  bend  over  the  rugged  cliff 
and  sweep  the  waters  of  the  Schuylkill  as  it 
rolls  on  amid  its  hilly  shores,  like  an  image 
of  the  rest  which  awaits  the  blessed  in  a  better 
world.  Then  a  solitary  column  of  white 
marble,  rising  like  a  form  of  snow  among  the 
green  boughs,  shall  record  the  neglect  and 
woe  and  glory  of  the  author's  life,  in  a  single 
name — Charles  Brockden  Brown." 


l68  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

"Wieland,"  the  most  powerful  of  Brown's 
novels,  was  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1798. 
It  was  followed  by  "  Ormond,  or  the  Secret 
Witness"  (1799),  "Arthur  Mervyn  "  (1799), 
"  Edgar  Huntley,  or  the  Memoirs  of  a  Sleep- 
Walker"  (1801),  "Clara  Howard"  and  "Jane 
Talbot"  (1801).  All  these  romances  dealt 
with  sombre  and  mysterious  or  terrible 
subjects.  "  Wieland  "  was  a  story  of  mon- 
strous crime  occasioned  through  the  agency 
of  ventriloquism.  "  Arthur  Mervyn "  con- 
tained vivid  descriptions  of  the  yellow  fever 
pestilence  in  Philadelphia  in  1793.  "Edgar 
Huntley  "  followed  the  fortunes  of  a  somnam- 
bulist in  the  mountain  fastnesses  of  Western 
Pennsylvania. 

When  Brown  began  to  write  "the  church- 
yard romance  "  was  in  fashion,  and  novelists 
revelled  in  tales  of  horror  and  of  terror,  dwell- 
ing long  and  painfully  upon  the  most  loath- 
some details  of  some  ghastly  bit  of  fancy. 
It  was  the  time  of  Lewis's  *'  Tales  of  Terror  " 
of  Walpole's  "  Castle  of  Otranto,"  of  Beck- 
ford's  "VatHek,"  and  of  Mrs.  Radcliffe's 
"  Mysteries  of  Udolpho  "  and  Mrs.  Shelley's 
"  Frankenstein."     William  Godwin,  too,  wrote 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 69 

ghostly  stories  of  crime  and  supernatural 
agencies,  and  from  Godwin,  Charles  Brock- 
den  Brown  caught  his  style.  The  influence 
of  Godwin  is  noticeable  in  Brown's  first  work, 
"  Alcuin,  a  Dialogue  on  the  Rights  of  Wo- 
men "  (1797).  Godwin's  ''Falkland"  and 
**  Caleb  Williams  "  are  the  models  of  "  Wie- 
land  "  and  "  Ormond." 

It  is  interesting  to  find  young  Percy  Bysshe 
Shelley  confessing  his  obligations  to  the  Phila- 
delphia novelist,  and  saying  that  Brown's 
novels  had  influenced  him  beyond  any  other 
books.  Traces  of  "  Wieland  "  are  to  be  found 
deeply  stamped  upon  "  Zastrozzi  "  and  "  St 
Irvyne."  It  is  a  singular  chapter  of  literary 
history  that  records  the  progress  of  William 
Godwin's  social  theories  and  tales  of  horror 
across  the  Atlantic  to  an  obscure  house  in 
Philadelphia  and  their  return  in  a  new  literary 
form  into  the  hands  of  William  Godwin's  son- 
in-law,  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  himself  a  poet 
of  American  descent. 

The  British  magazines  of  1804  contain  flat- 
tering notices  of  Brown,  and  his  novels  were 
reprinted  and  read  with  interest  and  critical 
approval  in  England.     At  home  he  has  fallen 


170  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

into  undeserved  oblivion,  and  the  attempts  in 
1857  and  1887  to  revive  the  interest  in  his 
works  proved  fruitless.  His  style  had  in  it  no 
elements  of  permanent  life,  but  he  was  the  first 
to  discover  the  capabilities  of  romance  in 
America,  and  used  in  all  his  books  American 
characters  and  scenery. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  so  greatly  admired  the 
works  of  the  American  novelist  that  he  named 
the  hero  of  Guy  Mannering  after  him  and  gave 
to  another  of  the  characters  of  the  same  story 
the  familiar  name  of ''Arthur  Mervyn." 

Benjamin  Smith  Barton  (1766-18 15),  a 
nephew  of  David  Rittenhouse,  and  the  succes- 
sor of  Benjamin  Rush  as  professor  of  the 
theory  and  practice  of  medicine  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  edited  the  Philadelphia 
Medical  and  Physical  Journal  from  November 
1 ,  1 804,  to  May,  1 807.  It  was  published  irreg- 
ularly by  J.  Conrad  and  Co. 

The  Evening  Fireside,  or  Literary  Miscellany, 
Philadelphia,  1 805-1 806,  was  established  by 
a  literary  club,  and  published  by  Joseph 
Rakestraw.  The  second  volume,  which  began 
January  4,  1806,  completed  the  work. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  I/I 

DRAMATIC    MAGAZINES. 

Notes  on  the  stage  and  criticism  of  the 
drama  had  frequently  been  given  place  in  the 
Port  Folio,  and  Brown's  Literary  Magazine 
had  published  a  farcical  account  of  a  '*  Theat- 
rical Campaign "  by  Dick  Buckram  (Vol.  I, 
p.  222),  but  the  first  magazine  in  America  that 
attempted  to  take  the  theatre  for  its  province 
was  the  Theatrical  Ce?isor,  By  a  Citizen,  first 
published  in  Philadelphia,  December  9,  1805, 
and  continued  until  November  17,  1806. 

It  was  succeeded  by  the  Theatrical  Censor 
and  Critical  Miscella7iy,  by  Gregory  Gryphon, 
Esq.,  Philadelphia,  Saturday,  October  11,  1806. 
Both  these  periodicals  were  issued  during  the 
theatrical  season  only,  and  the  latter  one  was 
published  in  the  interest  of  the  theatres  of 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston  and  Charles- 
ton. It  was  published  on  Saturdays,  and  made 
sixteen  pages  octavo. 

The  second  Theatrical  Censor  was  followed 
by  the  Thespian  Mirror,  in  New  York,  edited 
by  John  Howard  Payne,  then  a  youth  of  four- 
teen years.  Still  later  came  the  Boston  Mag- 
azine and  the  Polyanthus. 


172  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZLXES. 

Matthew  Carey  introduced  the  third  theatri- 
cal journal  to  the  Philadelphians.  It  was  the 
Thespian  Monitor  mid Dramatick  Miscellany ^hy 
Barnaby  Bangbar,  Esq.  (1809).  It  was  begun 
Saturday,  November  25,  1809.  There  is  but 
a  single  issue  of  this  publication  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  its  contents  are  almost  entirely 
biographical.  This  copy  was  the  property  of 
John  Howard  Payne. 

In  1 8 10  Samuel  T.  Bradford  was  the  most 
enterprising  publisher  in  Philadelphia.  With 
his  partner,  Inskeep,  he  printed  in  18 12  the 
Port  Folio.  With  the  same  partner  he  issued 
in  January,  18 10,  the  Mirror  of  Taste  and 
Dramatic  Censor.  The  editor  was  Stephen 
Cullen  Carpenter,  an  Irishman,  who  had  en- 
tered the  East  India  service,  where  he  remained 
fourteen  years,  retired  with  the  rank  of  major, 
and  returned  to  England.  He  wrote  political 
pamphlets  at  the  commencement  of  the 
French  Revolution,  and  was  made  reporter  of 
Debates  in  Commons  by  Edmund  Burke.  He 
reported  the  trial  of  Hastings,  and  came  to 
America  about  1800,  and  edited  a  magazine  in 
South  Carolina  until  he  was  engaged  by  Brad- 
ford and  Inskeep  to  conduct  the  Mirror  of 
Taste, 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1/3 

The  magazine  was  of  small  octavo  size,  each 
number  contained  about  one  hundred  pages, 
and  was  illustrated  with  a  fine  portrait  of  an 
actor  or  actress.  The  regular  performances 
at  the  theatres  were  criticised  with  a  good 
deal  of  pungency  and  acumen.  It  is  said  in 
the  preface  that  "  London  boasts  several  peri- 
odical publications  founded  on  the  Drama 
alone.  In  America  there  has  not  yet  been 
one  of  that  description."  In  January,  1811, 
the  magazine  changed  hands,  and  was  pub- 
lished by  Thomas  Barton  Zantzinger  &  Co.,  in 
the  Shakespeare  Buildings  at  Sixth  and  Chest- 
nut Streets. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  year  of  the  maga- 
zine a  dramatic  event  occurred  that  caused 
unusual  excitement  in  Philadelphia,  and  led  to 
important  consequences.  The  great  trage- 
dian, George  Frederick  Cooke,  whom  Ed- 
mund Kean  pronounced  "  the  greatest  of  all 
actors,  Garrick  alone  excepted,"  arrived  in 
New  York  and  appeared  on  21st  October, 
1 8 10,  as  Richard  III  before  two  thousand 
spectators  in  the  Park  Theatre. 

It  was  then  that  he  requested  the  great  au- 
dience to  stand   while  "  God  Save  the  King  " 


1/4  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

should  be  played,  and  during  the  storm  that 
followed  calmly  took  snuft'  until  the  audience 
acceded  to  his  demand. 

From  New  York  he  proceeded  to  Philadel- 
phia. No  such  acting  had  been  seen  in  America. 
The  excitement  among  play-going  people 
was  extraordinary.  "  He  was  to  play  Richard 
on  a  Monday  night,  and  on  Sunday  even- 
ing the  steps  of  the  theatre  were  covered  with 
groups  of  porters,  and  other  men  of  the  lower 
orders,  prepared  to  spend  the  night  there,  that 
they  might  have  the  first  chance  of  taking 
places  in  the  boxes.  I  saw  some  take  their 
hats  off  and  put  on  night-caps.  At  ten 
o'clock  the  next  morning  the  door  was  opened 
to  them,  and  at  that  time  the  street  in  front  of 
the  theatre  was  impassable.  When  the  rush 
took  place,  I  saw  a  man  spring  up  and  catch 
hold  of  the  iron  which  supported  a  lamp  on 
one  side  of  the  door,  by  which  he  raised  him- 
self so  as  to  run  over  the  heads  of  the  crowd 
into  the  theatre.  Some  of  these  fellows  were 
hired  by  gentlemen  to  secure  places,  and 
others  took  boxes  on  speculation,  sure  of  sell- 
ing them  at  double  or  treble  the  regular  prices. 
When  the  time  came  for  opening  the  doors  in 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 75 

the  evening,  the  crowd  was  so  tumultuous 
that  it  was  evident  there  was  little  certainty 
that  the  holders  of  box  tickets  would  obtain 
their  places,  and  for  ladies  the  attempt  would  be 
dangerous.  A  placard  was  therefore  displayed, 
stating  that  all  persons  who  had  tickets  would 
be  admitted  at  the  stage  door  before  the  front 
doors  were  opened.  This  notice  soon  drew  such 
a  crowd  to  the  back  of  the  theatre  that  when 
Cooke  arrived  he  could  not  get  in.  He  was 
on  foot  v/ith  Dunlap,  one  of  the  New  York 
managers,  and  he  was  obliged  to  make  him- 
self known  before  he  could  be  got  through 
the  press.  *  I  am  like  the  man  going  to  be 
hanged,'  he  said,  *  who  told  the  crowd  they 
would  have  no  fun  unless  they  made  way  for 
him.'" 

The  writer  of  these  lines  was  Charles  Robert 
Leslie,  who,  on  the  night  in  question,  occu- 
pied a  place  in  the  flies,  and  from  that  aerial 
station  "first  saw  George  Frederick  Cooke, 
the  best  Richard  since  Garrick,  and  who  has 
not  been  surpassed  even  by  Edmund  Kean  " 
(Autobiography  of  C.  R.  Leslie,  p.  i8).  Soon 
after  this  memorable  night  Leslie  made  a 
likeness  of  Cooke  which  attracted  Bradford's 


176  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

attention,  and  a  fund  was  speedily  raised  by- 
subscription  to  enable  the  young  artist  to 
study  painting  two  years  in  Europe.  Armed 
with  letters  to  English  artists,  Leslie  sailed 
from  New  York  on  the  nth  of  November, 
181 1,  in  company  with  Mr.  Inskeep.  So 
slight  a  circumstance  gained  for  him  an  intro- 
duction into  the  great  world  of  West  and 
AUston,  and  Landseer  and  Fuseli,  and  Samuel 
Taylor  Coleridge,  and  gave  to  England  and 
the  world  the  treasures  of  the  Vernon  and 
the  Sheepshank's  collections. 

In  the  preface  to  the  Mirror  of  Taste  (Vol. 
IV)  the  editors  recognize  the  importance  to 
them  of  the  visit  of  Cooke.  The  magazine 
"rose  into  estimation  just  at  that  singular 
crisis  when  a  great  theatrical  character  unex- 
pectedly visiting  this  country  held  a  new 
light  to  the  stage,  and,  pointing  out  the  true 
dramatic  representation,  opened  to  our  peo- 
ple a  new  train  of  thought,  gave  to  the  public 
mind  a  new  spring,  and  imparted  an  impulse 
before  unfelt,  with  a  just  and  elegant  direction 
to  the  general  taste,  roused  the  feelings  and 
perceptions  from  listlessness  and  sloth,  and 
infused  into  the  best  bosoms  of  the  nation  a 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 77 

generous  spirit,  which  gave  new  life  to  the 
arts,  quickened  them  into  action  and  effect, 
called  forth  the  infant  genius  of  a  Leslie  to 
the  public  view,  and  bade  breathing  portraits 
start  from  the  canvas  of  a  Sully."* 

The  father  of  Charles  Robert  Leslie  was 
Robert  Leslie,  who  had  been  a  watchmaker 
at  Elktown,  Md.,  and  had  removed  to  Phila- 
delphia in  1786.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society  and  a  friend 
of  Rush  and  Barton  and  Wistar  and  Physick. 
It  was  while  residing  in  London  that  Charles 
Robert  was  born,  October  19,  1794.  An  elder 
sister,  Eliza,  was  borii  in  1787  in  Philadelphia. 
She  won  a  prize  for  a  story,"  Mrs.  Washing- 
ton Potts,"  in  Godefs  Lady's  Book,  and 
afterwards  edited  the  Gift,  an  annual,  and 
Miss  Leslie's  Magazine,  a  monthly  publication 

(1843.) 

Blackwood's  Magazine  in  1824  congratu- 
lated America  on  C.  R.  Leshe's  success.  He 
never  lost  his  profound  respect  and  affection 
for  Samuel  Bradford,  and  named  his  second 
son  after  him.     In  the  second  year  (18 13)  of 

*  Sully's  painting  of  Cooke  as  Richard  III  in  the  Philadel- 
phia Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts. 


1/8  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Leslie's  residence  in  London,  Washington 
Allston's  health  became  seriously  affected,  and 
he  resolved  to  visit  Bristol.  Coleridge,  who 
was  affectionately  attached  to  Allston,  fol- 
lowed him  thither.  "  The  house  was  so  full," 
writes  Leslie,  in  his  autobiographical  recollec- 
tions, "  that  the  poet  was  obliged  to  share  a 
double-bedded  room  with  me.  We  were  kept 
up  late  in  consequence  of  the  critical  condi- 
tion of  Allston,  and  when  we  retired  Cole- 
ridge, seeing  a  copy  of  Knickerbocker's  His- 
tory of  New  York  which  I  had  brought  with 
me,  lying  on  the  table,  took  it  up  and  began 
reading.  I  went  to  bed,  and  think  he  must 
have  sat  up  the  greater  part  of  the  night,  for 
the  next  day  he  had  nearly  got  through 
Knickerbocker.  This  was  many  years  before 
it  was  published  in  England,  and  the  work 
was,  of  course,  entirely  new  to  him.  He  was 
delighted  with  it "  (p.  23). 

The  Analectic. — Washington  Irving,  who 
had  met  Allston  in  Rome  in  1804,  and  who 
was  for  a  time  almost  swerved  from  his 
literary  purpose  by  his  desire  to  become  a 
painter,  and  with  whose  first  literary  triumph 
Coleridge   thus  became  familiar,  was   also  a 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       I79 

Philadelphia  editor.  In  1809  E.  Bronson  and 
others  began  to  print  upon  their  Lorenzo 
press  TJie  Select  Reviews  and  Spirit  of  the 
Foreign  Magazines,  edited  by  Samuel  Evving. 
The  magazine  was  bought  by  Moses  Thomas, 
in  1 8 12,  who  changed  its  name  to  the  Aiialec- 
tic.  Irving  was  its  editor  in  18 13-14.  He 
contributed  to  it  some  of  the  essays  of  the 
"  Sketch  Book,"  "  Traits  of  Indian  Character," 
and  "  Philip  of  Pokanoket."  He  reviewed 
Robert  Treat  Paine,  E.  C.  Holland,  Paulding 
and  Lord  Byron,  and  wrote  for  it  biographies 
of  Lawrence,  Burrows,  Perry  and  Porter."^ 

Paulding  and  Verplanck  wTote  for  the  mag- 
azine, signing  their  articles  "  P."  and  "  V." 

*It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the  list  of  Washing- 
ton Irving' s  contributions  to  the  Analectic  Magazine  should 
have  come  to  me  in  an  Athenian  newspaper. 

To)  1813  o'Yjpoiv^  dveXaoe  rrjv  avvra^LV  rov 
TrepioStfcov  **  'A.vaK\erlfc'\  efcSiSofjievov  Kara  firjva 
€v  ^L\a8e\(f)eia.  'Ev  avvw  eypayjre  ttgWcl^ 
^LoypacfiLa^  rcov  Trepccpavea-repav  avSp:ov,  olv  al 
KupicoTepat  eldlv  at  T'jjv  'Afxepi/capcJi'  TLcoprep 
Kal  MttojOjOO}?  /cal  rcov  " XyyXcov  Troir/ruJi^  Bi/jOO)- 
z^09,  Mo'jap  Kal  KafJiTreWov." — EBA0MA2, 
December  i,  1890. 


t8o  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

William  Darlington  (1782-1863),  a  Pennsyl- 
vanian,  after  whom  was  named  the  Darling- 
tonica  California  (a  species  of  pitcher-plant), 
went  to  India  as  ship's  surgeon  in  1806,  and 
published  in  the  Analeciic  Magazine  a  sketch 
of  his  voyage  called  "  Letters  from  Calcutta." 

The  Analectic  contains  a  number  of  valu- 
able portraits.  The  first  lithograph  ever  made 
in  America  is  in  this  magazine  for  July  18 19. 
It  represents  a  woodland  scene — a  flowing 
stream  and  a  single  house  upon  the  bank.  It 
was  made  by  Bass  Otis,  who  followed  the  sug- 
gestions of  Judge  Cooper  and  Dr.  Brown,  of 
Alabama.  The  drawing  was  made  upon  a 
stone  from  Munich,  presented  to  the  Ameri- 
can Philosophical  Society  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Dobson,  of  Philadelphia.  The  Analectic  Mag- 
azine was  finally  converted  into  the  Literary 
Gazette  and  died  one  year  later  (December, 
1821).* 

*  "  I  observe,"  said  a  gentleman  at  the  Athenaeum,  "  that 
the  form  of  the  Analectic  Magazine  was  changed  on  the  first 
of  this  month."  *'  No,"  replied  his  friend,  ''  it  has  been 
weakly  for  some  time  past." 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  l8l 

WITTY    AND   SATIRICAL    MAGAZINES. 

The  Tickler  was  edited  by  George  Helm- 
bold,  and  was  first  issued,  September  i6,  1807, 
under  the  pen-name  of  "  Toby  Scratch  'Em." 
It  had  for  its  motto  : 

"  Curst  be  the  verse,  how  well  soe'er  it  flow, 
That  tends  to  make  one  worthy  man  my  foe, 
Give  virtue  scandal,  innocence  a  fear, 
Or  from  the  soft-eyed  virgin  steal  a  tear." — Pope. 

It  was  to  be  issued  every  Wednesday  morn- 
ing, at  the  price  of  four  dollars  per  annum, 
from  131  South  Front  Street.  The  first  vol- 
ume of  fifty-two  numbers  was  not  completed 
until  February  8,  1809.  Helmbold  enlisted 
in  the  army  and  was  promoted  to  a  lieuten- 
ancy at  Lundy's  Lane.  After  the  war  he 
kept  the  Minerva  Tavern  at  Sixth  and  Sansom 
Streets.  He  afterward  edited  the  Independent 
Balance. 

The  Trangram^  or  Fashionable  Trifler,  by 
"  Christopher  Crag,  Esq.,  his  Grandmother 
and  Uncle,"  was  published  in  Philadelphia  by 
George  E.  Blake  in  1809.  It  foreshadowed 
its  wit  and  its  satire  in  its  introductory  parody 
of  Macbeth : 


1 82  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

"  How  now,  ye  cunning,  sharp  and  secret  wags, 
What  is't  ye  do  ? 
A  deed  with  a  double  name." 

In  the  first  number  was  an  address  by  *'  The 
Publisher  to  the  Purchaser.  .  .  .  The  con- 
ductors of  this  paper,  being  a  kind  of  whim- 
sical and  negligent  gentry  of  easy  habits  and 
inconstant  disposition,  its  continuation  will  not 
so  much  depend  upon  the  patronage  that  may 
be  given  to  it  as  upon  their  own  humours  and 
caprices.  It  is,  as  Johnson  says  of  its  title 
— *  Trangram — an  odd,  intricately-contrived 
thing,'  and,  therefore,  in  its  appearance  will  be 
as  irregular  in  its  size  or  proportions  as  un- 
equal, and  in  its  pecuniary  value  as  unstated, 
though  always  as  reasonable,  as  any  other 
oddly-contrived  thing  ev^er  was,  or  is,  or  ought 
to  be."  The  publisher,  George  Blake,  was  a 
Yorkshireman  and  a  music  dealer  in  South 
Fifth  Street.  He  told  William  Duane  that  the 
editors  were  Mordecai  M.  Noah,  Alexander 
F.  Coxe,  a  son  of  Tench  Coxe,  and  in  1814  a 
member  of  the  bar,  and  a  third  person  "  whose 
name  he  seemed  unwilling  to  mention " 
(Duane).  Only  three  numbers  were  printed, 
the  triple  team  quarrelled,  and  the  publication 
ceased. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 83 

Mordecai  Noah  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
July  14,  1785.  After  his  removal  to  New 
York,  about  1816,  he  became  the  owner  or 
editor  of  a  number  of  magazines  and  news- 
papers. 

The  Trangrafn  is  full  of  local  gossip  and 
scandal  cleverly  concealed.  Andrew  Hamil- 
ton figures  in  it  as  *'  Dapper  Dumpling." 
J.  N.  Barker,  the  author  of  "  Superstition,"  is 
"  Billy  Mushroom."  Joseph  Dennie  is  nick- 
named ''  Oliver  Crank."  William  Warren  is 
dubbed  "  the  tun-beliied  manager." 

The  account  of  a  walk  through  the  city 
streets  ends  with  "  the  description  of  the  de- 
fence of  his  friend  would  doubtless  have  con- 
tinued until  we  reached  the  end  of  our  journey 
had  we  not  by  this  time  arrived,  where  mathe- 
maticians never  could  arrive,  at  the  Square 
Circle," — that  is,  at  Centre  Square,  Broad  and 
Market  Streets. 

The  third  number,  February  i,  18 10,  con- 
tains accounts  of  *' Jeremy  Corsica"  (Jerome 
Bonaparte)  and  his  visit  to  Philadelphia,  and 
to  "  Bangilore  "  (Baltimore),  and  his  acquaint- 
ance with  Miss  "  Cornelia  Pattypan,"  or  Pat- 
terson. 


184  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

The  Beacon^  erected  and  supported  by 
Lticida7itus  and  his  Thirteen  Friends,  was 
published  by  W.  Brown,  and  began  its  course 
Wednesday,  Nov.  27,  18 11.  It  aimed  to  sur- 
pass Tlie  Spirit  of  the  Reviews^  the  Dramatic 
Censor  and  the  Port  Folio,  but  it  is  believed  to 
have  made  only  two  numbers.  The  purpose 
of  the  magazine  was  defined  in  the  second 
number,  December  11,  1811  :  "We  propose 
to  develop  to  our  readers  the  machinery  and 
composition  of  our  Philadelphia  Society." 

The  Luncheon  was  a  monthly  satirical  paper 
''  boiled  for  people  about  six  feet  high  by 
Simon  Pure."  Its  first  appearance  was  in  July, 
181 5.  The  second  number  contained  an 
abusive  article  upon  William  McCorkle.  In 
January,  18 16,  Lewis  P.  Franks,  the  editor  of 
the  Luncheojt,  confessed  himself  the  author  of 
the  libel  and  declared  that  the  alleged  biog- 
graphy  of  McCorkle  was  false,  and  that  the 
journal  would  be  discontinued. 

The  Indepe^ident  Balance  was  published 
weekly  by  "  Democritus  the  Younger,  a  lineal 
descendant  of  the  Laughing  Philosopher."  It 
was  established,  March  20,  18 17,  by  George 
Helmbold,  the  first  editor  of  the  Tickler  and 
late  of  the  United  States  Army. 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       1 85 

The  second  volume  had  a  vignette  of  a 
sportsman  shooting  a  bird,  with  the  motto  : 

"Whene'er  we  court  the  tuneful  nine, 
Or  plainer  prose  suits  our  design, 
Then  fools  may  sneer  and  critics  frown 
At  every  corner  of  the  town, — 
Condemn  our  paper  or  commend  ; 
One  aim  is  ours,  our  chiefest  end : 
With  well-poised  gun  and  surest  eyes 
To  shoot  at  Folly  as  it  flies." 

Helmbold  died  in  Philadelphia,  December 
28,  1 82 1 .  The  magazine,  after  passing  through 
several  hands,  finally  became  the  property  of 
L.  P.  Franks,  who  published  it  at  "  No.  i 
Paradise  Alley,  back  of  171  Market  Street, 
between  Fourth  and  Fifth  Streets."  At  this 
time  it  was  edited  by  "  Simon  Spunkey,  Esq., 
duly  commissioned  and  sworn  regulator, 
weigh-master  and  Inspector  General."  Its 
motto  proclaimed  its  purpose  to  anatomize  the 
wise  man's  folly  as  plain  as  way  to  parish 
church: 

"  I  claim  as  large  a  charter  as  the  wind 
To  blow  on  whom  I  please." 

The  Critic,  by  Geoffrey  Juvenile,  Esq.,  No. 
I,  January  29,  1820. 


1 86  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Every  number  of  the  Critic  contains  some 
quip  or  satire  at  the  expense  of  James  Kirke 
Paulding,  and  his  ''  Backwoodsman  "  is  par- 
ticularly levelled  at.  Paulding  is  dubbed 
"  The  Cabbage  Bard,"  and  the  caustic  reviewer 
proceeds  to  write  :  "  We  had  a  Dennie  and  a 
Clifton,  yet  the  classical  elegance  of  the  one 
has  not  availed  to  preserve  his  countrymen 
from  being  intoxicated  by  the  quaintness  and 
affectation  of  the  Salmagundi  school,  and  the 
purity  and  wit  of  the  other  have  as  little  proved 
powerful  to  save  his  work  from  being  deserted 
for  the  bathos  and  silliness  of  the  *  Back- 
woodsman.' I  remember  them  both.  In  pri- 
vate life  they  united  qualities  which  are  sel- 
dom found  together,  brilliancy  of  conversation 
and  modesty  of  deportment.  In  their  writ- 
ings they  were  chaste  without  being  tame, 
and  elevated  without  being  extravagant. 
Alas !  I  little  thought  to  have  lived  until  their 
light  should  be  hidden  by  a  cloud  of  delirious 
bats  who  had  left  their  native  obscurity  and 
madly  rushed  to  uncongenial  day,  vermin 
which  are  likely  to  be  of  direful  omen  to  our 
country  unless  the  land  be  speedily  cleansed 
of  them." 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       1 8/ 

The  greatness  of  Philadelphia  is  the  inspi- 
ration and  the  pride  of  the  Critic.  "  Having 
often  heard  Philadelphia  called  the  ^Athens  of 
the  United  States,'  *  the  birthplace  of  Ameri- 
can literature/  I  was  naturally  delighted  at 
the  prospect  of  a  visit  to  so  celebrated  a  city  " 
(p.  14).  And  again :  "  Philadelphia  with  all 
its  faults  and  follies  is,  in  a  literary  and  scien- 
tific point  of  view,  the  first  city  of  the  Em- 
pire "  (p.  20).  The  Critic  fired  its  last  arrow 
May  10,  1820. 

Dennie's  Port  Folio  continued  to  be  the  ad- 
miration and  the  despair  of  contemporary  ed- 
itors and  authors.  In  1 82 1  appeared  the  P.^i'/- 
Chaise  Companion  or  Magazine  of  Wit.  By 
Carlo  Convivio  Socio,  Junior  Fellow  of 
the  Royal  Academy  of  Humorists.  It  was 
begun  in  January,  182 1,  and  was  issued  from 
15  North  Front  Street.  In  its  first  "leader"  it 
deprecated  comparison  with  the  favorites  of  the 
hour :  "  With  the  venerable  Mr.  Oldschool, 
who  for  almost  twenty  years  has  delighted  or  in- 
structed the  *  mind  of  desultory  man,'  I  would 
not  presume  to  enter  into  a  competition,  still 
less  should  it  be  provoked  with  the  profound 
labours  of  the  editor  of  the  Analectic  Maga- 


1 88  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

zine  and  his  host  of 'the  most  eminent  literary- 
men  '  who  promised  to  eclipse  the  disserta- 
tions of  the  famous  Northern  lights  "  (p.  3). 

The  little  paper  contains  a  long  article  on 
Mr.  Kean's  acting  (pages  37-51). 

The  Philadelphia  Medical  Museiim  was  con- 
ducted by  John  Redman  Coxe  for  five  years, 
from  1805  to  1 8 10,  and  was  published  by  A. 
Bartram. 

The  Eye,  by  Obadiah  Optic,  was  pub- 
lished every  Thursday  by  John  W.  Scott,  from 
January  to  December,  1808,  at  three  dollars  a 
year.  It  was  filled  with  odd,  historical  and 
alliterative  articles. 

The  Philadelphia  Repertory,  a  weekly  liter- 
ary journal,  was  published  in  1810  by  Dennis 
Hart. 

The  Eclectic  Repertory  and  Analytic  Review, 
Medical  a7id  Philosophical,  was  commenced  in 
October,  1 8 II,  and  continued  until  October, 
1820.  It  was  published  quarterly,  and  edited 
by  an  association  of  physicians,  and  published 
by  T.  Dobson  and  Son. 

It  was  continued  in  January,  1821,  as  the 
Journal  of  Foreign  Medical  Science  and  Liter- 
ature, conducted  by  S.  Emlen,  Jr.,  and  Wil- 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 89 

liam  Price,  and  published  by  Eliakim  Littell. 
It  finally  ceased  October,  1824. 

The  Freemason's  Magazine  and  General 
7lf2><;^//^;^jK  was  published  from  1810-1812  (?). 
It  was  edited  by  George  Richards,  a  school- 
master and  clergyman  of  the  Revolution.  He 
was  the  author  of  "An  Historical  Discourse 
on  the  Death  of  General  Washington  "  (Ports- 
mouth, 1800),  and  of  a  number  of  patriotic 
poems  of  the  Revolution. 

Robert  Walsh  began,  in  181 1,  the  publi- 
cation of  the  first  quarterly  that  was  issued  in 
the  United  States.  It  was  the  American  Re- 
viezv  of  History,  of  Politics,  and  General  Repos- 
itory of  Literature  and  State  Papers,  and  was 
published  for  two  years,  in  four  volumes,  by 
Farrand  and  Nichols. 

Walsh  was  born  in  Baltimore  in  1784.  He 
was  educated  in  Catholic  schools  in  Balti- 
more, and  at  the  Jesuit  College  at  George- 
town. While  at  college,  in  1796,  he  delivered 
a  political  address  before  General  Washing- 
ton. He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Phila- 
delphia. In  1 8 17-18  he  edited  the  American 
Register. 

The  National  Gazette,  a    daily    newspaper, 


1 90  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

was  established  by  him  in  Philadelphia  in 
1 8 19,  and  his  connection  with  it  did  not  cease 
until  he  sold  it,  in  1836,  to  William  Fry. 

The  Philadelphia  Register  had  been  a  weekly 
paper,  the  title  of  which  was  changed,  in  18 19, 
to  the  Natio7ial  Recorder.  It  was  founded  in 
18 1 8  by  E.  Littell  and  S.  Norris  Henry.  In. 
July,  1 82 1,  it  changed  its  name  for  the  second 
time,  and  became  the  Saturday  Magazine. 
De  Quiricey's  *'  Confessions  of  an  English 
Opium  Eater"  and  the  essays  of  Charles  Lamb 
were  published  for  the  first  time  in  America  in 
the  pages  of  the  Saturday  Magazine.  In  the 
following  year  (1822)  the  magazine  became  a 
monthly  publication,  and  was  called  the  Mu- 
seum of  Foreign  Literature  and  Science.  In 
this  year  (1822)  it  was  edited  by  Robert 
Walsh.  Toward  the  close  of  1823  the  pro- 
prietor gave  notice  that  Mr.  Walsh  was  no 
longer  connected  with  the  Museum.  It  was 
then  conducted  by  Eliakim  and  Squier  Littell. 
In  1843  the  publication  office  was  removed  to 
New  York,  and  the  magazine  was  called  the 
Eclectic  Museum  of  Foreign  Literature  a7id 
Science.  Littell  had  no  connection  with  the 
magazine  in   this  phase  of  its  history.     He 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  I9I 

went  to  Boston,  and  in  1844  established  Lit- 
tclVs  Living  Age,  of  which  he  remained  the 
proprietor  until  his  death,  May  17,  1870. 

After  retiring  from  the  editorial  chair  of  the 
Musetim,  Walsh  successfully  resuscitated  the 
American  Quarterly  Review^  which  he  pub- 
lished from  March,  1827,  to  1837. 

The  Reviezv  was  published  by  Carey,  Lea 
and  Carey.  It  appeared  in  March,  June,  Sep- 
tember and  December.  Each  number  con- 
tained two  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  and  the 
subscription  price  was  five  dollars  per  annum. 
Some  of  Walsh's  original  works  had  met  with 
approval  in  England.  His  "  Letter  on  the 
Genius  and  Disposition  of  the  French  Gov- 
ernment "  passed  through  four  editions  in 
England,  and  was  commended  by  Lord  Jeffrey 
in  the  Edinburgh  Reviezv  (Vol.  XVI,  p.  i).  The 
American  Quarterly  Reviezv  did  not  share  the 
same  happy  fate.  The  Monthly  Reviezv  said 
of  it,  "  It  is  as  dull  a  work  of  the  kind  as  any 
that  we  know  of.  It  is  heavier  even  than  the 
Westminster  when  burthened  by  the  lucubra- 
tions of  Jeremy  Bentham."  Neal,  in  Black- 
zjuood's  (XVI,  634),  sarcastically  styled  Walsh 
"  The  Jupiter  of  the  American  Olympus." 


192  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Walsh  was  United  States  Consul  at  Paris 
from  1845-185 1,  and  remained  in  France  until 
his  death,  February  7,  1859. 

Joseph  Delaplaine,  in  April,  18 12,  respect- 
fully solicited  the  patronage  of  the  public  to 
the  Emporium  of  Arts  and  Sciences^  *'  con- 
ducted by  John  Redman  Coxe,  M.D.,  profes- 
sor of  chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania." The  magazine  was  published  monthly, 
beginning  in  May,  18 12.  It  made  three  vol- 
umes, but  two  volumes  only  were  published 
in  Philadelphia.  The  second  volume  was 
conducted  by  Thomas  Cooper,  who,  in  1813, 
removed  the  magazine  to  Carlisle,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  it  was  printed  by  Kimber  and 
Richardson. 

The  Religious  Remembrancer  was  begun  by 
John  Welwood  Scott  on  the  4th  of  September, 
1813.  It  was  the  first  religious  weekly  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States,  and  was  three 
years  in  advance  of  Willis's  Boston  Recorder. 

Two  children's  papers  publishing  about  this 
time  were  :  the  Juvenile  Magazine — Religious, 
Moral,  and  Entertaining  Pieces  in  Prose  and 
Verse,  "  compiled  by  Arthur  Donaldson," 
Philadelphia,  18 11,  published  monthly,  twelve 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 93 

and  a  half  cents  per  number.  The  Juvenile 
Port  Folio,  a  weekly  miscellany,  was  published 
by  Thomas  G.  Condie,  Jr.,  22  Carter's  Alley, 
in  1813. 

A  French  weekly  was  started  in  181 5, 
LAbeille  Americaine,  Journal  Historique,  Poli- 
tique, et  Litteraire  a  Philadelphie ,  A.  J.  Bloc- 
querst,  130  South  Fifth  Street.  Matthew 
Carey  took  subscriptions  for  the  work,  which 
continued  several  years. 

The  Parterre :  by  a  Trio  (Cora  and  Charles 
Chandler),  18 16,  printed  by  Probasco  and 
Justice,  350  North  Second  Street.  This 
worthless  little  weekly  was  begun  June  15, 
1816,  and  ended  June  28,  1817. 

The  American  Register,  or  Summary  Re- 
view of  History,  Politics  and  Literature — Phila. : 
Thos.  Dobson,  1 8 1 7-1 8 1 8 — made  two  volumes. 

The  American  Medical  Recorder  appeared 
in  1 8 18,  supported  by  a  number  of  physicians. 
It  was  a  quarterly  publication.  The  title  was 
changed  in  1824  to  the  Medical  Recorder  of 
Original  Papers  and  Intelligence  on  Medicine 
and  Surgery,  It  was  merged  in  1829  into 
the  American  Journal  of  the  American  Sciences. 

The  Ladies'  and  Gentlemen' s  Weekly  Literary 
13 


194  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Museum  and  Musical  Magazine  was  a  weekly 
publication  begun,  January  i,  1 8 19,  by  H. 
C.  Lewis,  No.  164  South  Eleventh  Street. 

Washington  Irving's  first  literary  adventure 
was  the  publication  of  Salmagundi.  It  was 
begun  in  New  York,  January  14,  1807,  by 
Irving  and  James  Kirke  Paulding.  The 
origin  of  the  venture  is  not  quite  clear,  but  it 
was  an  outcome  of  the  alert  and  gay  society 
in  New  York,  of  which  Brevoort  and  Paul- 
ding and  the  Irvings  were  conspicuous  mem- 
bers. 

Mr.  Paulding  said  of  the  enterprise,  "  It 
was  when  fairly  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of 
the  town  that  Washington  Irving  and  myself 
commenced  the  publication  of  Salmagundi, 
an  irregular  issue,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
ridicule  the  follies  and  foibles  of  the  fashion- 
able world.  Though  we  had  not  anticipated  any- 
thing beyond  a  local  circulation,  the  work  soon 
took  a  wider  sphere ;  gradually  extended 
throughout  the  United  States,  and  acquired 
great  popularity.  It  was,  I  believe,  the  first 
of  its  kind  in  this  country;  produced  numer- 
ous similar  publications,  none  of  which,  how- 
ever, extended   beyond   a   few  numbers   and 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.      1 95 

formed  somewhat  of  an  era  in  our  literature. 
It  reached  two  volumes,  and,  we  could  easily 
have  continued  it  indefinitely,  but  the  pub- 
lisher, with  that  liberality  so  characteristic  of 
these  modern  Maecenases,  declined  to  concede 
to  us  a  share  of  the  profits,  which  had  be- 
come considerable,  and  the  work  was  abruptly 
discontinued.  It  was  one  of  those  produc- 
tions of  youth  that  wise  men — or  those  who 
think  themselves  wise — are  very  apt  to  be 
ashamed  of  when  they  grow  old." 

In  1 8 19  Paulding  attempted  to  revive  Sal- 
magundi,  and  a  "second  series"  was  pub- 
lished fortnightly  in  Philadelphia,  io8  Chest- 
nut Street,  by  Moses  Thomas,  from  May  30, 
1 8 19,  to  August  19,  1820.  Evert  A.  Duyc- 
kinck,  in  his  preface  to  the  latest  issue  of  the 
first  series,  writes,  "  Some  ten  years  or  more 
after  the  conclusion  of  Salmagundi,  Paulding 
ventured  alone  upon  a  second  series.  Wash- 
ington Irving  was  in  Europe,  and  the  muse  of 
Pindar  Cockloft  was  silent.  It  was  a  danger- 
ous undertaking,  for  the  very  essence  of  a 
Salmagundi  is  the  combination  of  choice  in- 
gredients— a  product  of  many  minds.  .  . 
Yet  it  contains  many  delightful  pages." 


196  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

The  publication  is  referred  to  by  Paulding 
in  a  letter  to  Washington  Irving,  January  20, 
1820  :  "  I  must  now  make  two  or  three  ex- 
planations concerning  myself  and  proceedings. 
Hearing  last  winter  from  William  Irving  that 
you  had  finally  declined  coming  home,  and 
finding  my  leisure  time  a  little  heavy,  I  set  to 
work  and  prepared  several  numbers  of  a  con- 
tinuation of  our  old  joint  production.  At 
that  time  and  subsequently,  until  Gouverneur 
Kemble  brought  your  first  number  [of  the 
Sketch  Book]  down  to  Washington  with  him, 
I  was  entirely  ignorant  that  you  contemplated 
anything  of  the  kind.  But  for  an  accidental 
delay  my  first  number  would  have  got  the 
start  of  yours.  As  it  happened,  however,  it 
had  the  appearance  of  taking  the  field  against 
you,  a  thing  which  neither  my  head  nor  heart 
will  sanction.  I  believe  my  work  has  not 
done  you  any  harm  in  the  way  of  rivalship, 
for  it  has  been  soundly  abused  by  many  per- 
sons and  compared  with  the  first  part  with 
many  degrading  expressions.  It  has  sold 
tolerably,  but  I  shall  discontinue  it  shortly,  as 
I  begin  to  grow  tired,  and  I  believe  the  public 
has   got  the   start  of  me.     It   was  owing   to 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 97 

Moses  that  I  did  not  commence  an  entire  new 
work." 

The  reputation  of  the  periodical  in  Fashion's 
choicest  circle  is  hinted  at  in  Halleck's 
"  Fanny : " 

"  And  though  by  no  means  a  bas  bleu,  she  had 
For  Hterature  a  most  becoming  passion ; 

Had  skimm'd  the  latest  novels,  good  and  bad, 

Arid  read  the  Croakers,  when  they  were  in  fashion; 

And  Dr.  Chalmers'  Sermons,  of  a  Sunday ; 

And  Wordsworth's  Cabinet,  and  the  new  Sahiiagundi.'''' 

In  closing  his  introduction  to  the  new- 
series,  Paulding  alluded  gracefully  and  affec- 
tionately to  his  tried  and  generous  friend  and 
former  fellow-worker,  Washington  Irving. 
"  The  reader  will  not  fail  of  hearing,  in  good 
time,  all  about  the  worthy  Cockloft  family ; 
the  learned  Jeremy,  and  the  young  ladies  who 
are  still  young  in  spite  of  the  lapse  of  ten 
years  and  more.  Above  a  dozen  years  are 
past  since  we  first  introduced  these  excellent 
souls  to  our  readers,  and  in  that  time  many  a 
gentle  tie  has  been  broken,  and  many  friends 
separated,  some  of  them  forever.  Among 
those  we  most  loved  and  admired,  we  have  to 
regret  the  long  absence  of  one  who  was  aye 


198  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

the  delight  of  his  friends,  and  who,  if  he  were 
with  us,  would  add  such  charms  of  wit  and 
gayety  to  this  little  work  that  the  young  and 
the  aged  would  pore  over  it  with  equal  de- 
hght." 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  established 
\\\Q  Episcopal  Magazine  in  January,  1820.  It 
was  conducted  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Wharton  and 
Rev.  George  Boyd.  The  former  editor, 
Charles  Henry  Wharton,  was  born  in  St. 
Mary's  County,  Maryland,  June  5,  1748. 
Notley  Hall,  the  family  estate,  was  presented 
to  the  family  by  Lord  Baltimore.  Wharton 
was  educated  in  Jesuit  schools  and  ordained  a 
deacon  and  a  priest  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  In  the  last  years  of  the  Revolution 
he  was  chaplain  to  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
Worcester,  England,  to  whom,  in  1784,  after 
joining  the  Church  of  England,  he  addressed 
his  celebrated  ''  Letter."  He  was  a  member 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  and 
for  a  short  time  President  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege. In  i8i3-i4hewas  co-editor  with  Dr. 
Abercrombie  of  the  Quarterly  Theological  Mag- 
azine and  Religions  Repository. 

The  Episcopal  Magazine  was  published  by 
S.  Potter  &  Co.  and  printed  by  J.  Maxwell. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  1 99 

The  Rural  Magazine  and  Literary  Evening 
Fireside,  a  monthly  publication  by  Richards  and 
Caleb  Johnson,  was  begun  in  January,  1820. 
Its  purpose  was  to  give  correct  views  of  the 
science  of  agriculture.  It  also  contained  ar- 
ticles on  slavery,  a  sketch  of  Benezet,  etc. 
But  the  farmers  were  not  inclined  to  write  out 
their  ideas  of  agriculture,  and  the  bucolic 
journal,  after  binding  its  monthly  sheaves  into 
a  single  volume,  asked  its  own  conge. 

Nathaniel  Chapman  was  the  only  begetter 
of  the  American  J otirnal  of  the  Medical  Sciences  ^ 
which,  in  its  seventy  years  of  history,  has 
known  the  touch  of  so  many  skilful  editorial 
hands.  Chapman  issued  it  as  a  quarterly  from 
the  publishing  house  of  M.  Carey  and  Son.  It 
was  then  called  the  Philadelphia  Journal  of 
the  Medical  Sciences. 

In  1825  Dr.  Williams  P.  Dewees  and  John 
D.  Godman  were  associated  with  Dr.  Chap- 
man in  the  editorship.  Dr.  Isaac  Hays  was 
added  to  the  staff  in  February,  1827,  and  in 
November  the  name  of  the  magazine  was 
changed  to  the  American  Journal  of  the  Med- 
ical Sciences,  and  Dr.  Isaac  Hays  became  sole 
editor,  to  be  in  turn  succeeded  by  his  son,  Dr. 


200  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

I.  Minis  Hays.  The  history  of  its  changes  and 
extension  would  take  us  far  beyond  the  chro- 
nological boundary  of  this  book.  Nearly 
every  physician  of  note  in  America  has  con- 
tributed at  some  time  to  its  pages,  and  nearly 
every  notable  triumph  of  American  medicine 
has  found  fitting  record  somewhere  in  its  mul- 
titudinous numbers. 

The  Reformer  was  a  monthly  religious  and 
ethical  publication  issued  in  1820. 

Robert  S.  Coffin,  who  had  written  popular 
verses  under  the  name  of  the  "  Boston  Bard  " 
while  a  compositor  in  the  office  of  the  Village 
Record,  at  West  Chester,  Pa.,  came  to  Philadel- 
phia in  1 82 1  and  began  a  literary  paper,  which 
he  called  the  Bee,  Not  more  than  two  hun- 
dred subscribers  were  secured,  and  Coffin  sold 
the  unsuccessful  paper  to  Charles  Alexander, 
who  had  formerly  been  employed  upon  Poul- 
son's-  Daily  Advertiser.  On  the  4th  of  Aug- 
ust, 1 82 1,  Atkinson  and  Alexander,  in  the 
office  once  occupied  by  Benjamin  Franklin, 
back  of  No.  5  3  Market  Street,  began  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Philadelphia  Saturday  Evening 
Post.  T.  Cottrell  Clarke  was  appointed  editor. 
He  retired  in    1826  and  founded  the  Ladies' 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  201 

Album,  a  weekly  literary  paper,  which  ulti- 
mately merged  into  the  Pennsylvania  Inquirer. 
Morton  McMichael  succeeded  Clarke  in  the 
editorial  chair  of  the  Post^  and,  when  he  too 
resigned,  became  the  first  editor  of  the  Satur- 
day Courier.  Other  editors  of  the  Post  at 
various  times  were  Benjamin  Mathias,  founder 
of  the  Sattirday  Chronicle,  Charles  J.  Peter- 
son, Rufus  W.  Griswold,  H.  Hastings  Weld 
and  Henry  Peterson.  The  Post  had  few  im- 
portant rivals  among  the  family  newspapers 
and  it  absorbed  a  number  of  the  young  lit- 
erary journals.  The  Saturday  News,  the  Sat- 
urday Bulletin  and  the  Saturday  Chronicle  were 
merged  into  the  Post.  Mrs.  Henry  Wood's 
early  novels,  written  in  her  obscure  days  be- 
fore the  time  of  ''  East  Lynne,"  were  pub- 
lished in  it. 

The  Episcopal  Recorder,  established  in  1822, 
and  edited  by  Rev.  B.  B.  Smith,  Bishop  of 
the  P.  E.  Church  in  the  United  States,  has 
always  admitted  into  its  pages  articles  by 
leading  clergymen  of  whatever  sect  or  creed. 

The  Erin,  a  weekly  paper  containing  Irish 
news,  was  published  in  August,  1822,  by 
Hart  &  Co.,  No.  117  South  Fifth  Street. 


202  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Rev.  G.  T.  Bedell,  who  had  established  the 
Episcopal  Recorder,  was  also  the  editor  of  the 
Philadelphia  Recorder  (1823),  likewise  a  relig- 
ious weekly  published  in  the  interest  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

The  Arcadian,  a  literary  periodical,  of  the 
year  1823,  was  published  by  A.  Potter  and  Co. 

The  American  Monthly  Magazine^  January, 
1824,  to  June,  1824,  was  edited  by  James  Mc- 
Henry  and  published  by  Job  Palmer. 

The  Medical  Review  and  Analectic  Journal 
was  edited  by  Dr.  John  Eberle  and  Dr.  George 
McClellan  and  published  quarterly  between 
June,  1824,  and  August,  1826. 

The  yEsctdapian  Register  was  published 
from  June  17,  1824,  to  December  8,  1834. 
Several  physicians  united  in  its  editorship, 
and  R.  Desilver,  of  1 10  Walnut  Street,  was 
its  publisher ;  its  motto :  "  Ars  longa,  vita 
brevis." 

The  American  Sunday  School  Magazi^ie 
(1824-183 1)  was  the  first  Sunday-school- 
teacher's journal  issued  in  America. 

La  Cordeille,  3i  weekly  journal  published  in 
1824.  The  editor  was  a  gallant  Cavalier,  who 
warns  the  ladies  in  the  first  number  that  novel 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       203 

reading  "  induces  a  sickly  diathesis  of  the 
mind,  or  mental  marasmus." 

In  June,  1824,  there  were  published  in 
Philadelphia  the  Port  Folio,  the  Museum,  the 
American  Monthly  and  nine  other  magazines, 
four  religious,  three  medical  and  two  polit- 
ical. It  was  in  this  year  that  Blackwood' s 
Magazine  congratulated  America  on  Charles 
Robert  Leslie's  success  in  art. 

The  Reformer,  published  in  1824,  by 
Theophilus  R.  Gates,  aimed  to  "  expose  the 
clerical  schemes  and  pompous  undertakings 
of  the  present  day  under  the  pretence  of 
religion,  and  to  show  that  they  are  irreconcil- 
able with  the  spirit  and  principle  of  the  Gospel." 

The  Christian  was  a  weekly  paper  of  1824. 

The  Philadelphian,  a  large  folio  sheet,  con- 
aining  religious  articles,  was  founded  in  May, 
1825,  by  S.  B.  Ludlow,  and  published  weekly 
at  No.  59  Locust  Street.  William  F.  Geddes 
and  Dr.  Ezra  Styles  Ely  were  among  its 
editors. 

The  North  American  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,  January,  1826,  to  October,  1831,  was 
published  quarterly. 

The  Album  and  Ladies'  Weekly  Gazette,  be- 


204  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

gun  June  7,  1826,  by  T.  C.  Clarke,  changed  its 
name  to  the  Philadelphia  Alburn  and  Ladies' 
Literary  Port  Folio,  and  was  edited  by  Robert 
Morris  after  consolidation  with  the  Ladies' 
Literary  Port  Folio. 

The  Casket^  Flowers  of  Literature,  Wit  and 
Sentiment  was  a  magazine  published  in  news- 
paper form.  It  was  made  out  of  the  Satur- 
day Evening  Post,  and  was  first  issued  by 
Samuel  Coate  Atkinson,  at  No.  36  Carter's 
Alley,  January  i,  1827.  Elizabeth  Margaret 
Chandler  (1807- 1834)  won  a  prize  for  the 
"Slave  Ship"  offered  by  the  proprietor  of  the 
Casket. 

Charles  Alexander,  the  well-known  pub- 
lisher, solicited  William  E.  Burton  to  establish 
a  literary  journal  in  Philadelphia,  and  Burton, 
who  was  sympathetic  yet  dogmatic,  possessed 
of  excellent  literary  taste,  but  never  more 
Positive  than  when  in  error,  founded  in  July, 
1837,  the  Gentleman's  Magazine.  The  fifth 
and  sixth  volumes,  1839,  were  conducted  by 
Burton  and  by  Poe.  The  seventh  volume, 
1840,  was  conducted  by  George  R.  Graham. 
The  poetry  of  Burton's  was  painfully  bad, 
redeemed  only  in  the  faintest  degree  by  the 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.      20  5 

verses  of  J.  H.  Ingraham  and  C.  West  Thom- 
son. 

Elwood  Walter  began  and  Edmund  Morris 
continued  the  Ariel,  a  fortnightly  literary 
journal,  first  issued  from  No.  71  Market  Street, 
May  5,  1827. 

The  Philadelphia  Monthly  Journal  of  Medi- 
ci7ie  and  Surgery  was  published  by  R.  H. 
Small  and  edited  by  Dr.  N.  R.  Smith  from 
June,  1827,  until  February,  1828. 

The  Friend,  a  weekly  periodical  begun  Oc- 
tober 13,  1827,  was  published  in  the  interest 
of  the  Orthodox  Quakers. 

The  Philadelphia  Monthly  Magazine,  Octo- 
ber, 1827-September,  1829;  published  by  J. 
Dobson,  108  Chestnut  Street.  The  magazine 
was  projected  by  Dr.  Isaac  Clarkson  Snowden. 
It  was  to  give  information  on  the  fine  arts, 
sciences  and  literature,  and  contained  frequent 
articles  on  American  literature.  Snowden 
was  born  at  Princeton,  31st  of  December, 
1 79 1.  He  studied  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  lived  in  Bucks  County  in  ill- 
health.  He  conceived  the  plan  of  the  mag- 
azine in  the  spring  of  1827.  At  his  death 
the  magazine  passed  into  the  hands  of  B.  R. 


206  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Evans  and  was  enlarged  eight  pages.  A  series 
of  good  articles  began  November,  1828,  and 
ran  through  five  numbers,  on  the  History  of 
Literature  in  Pennsylvania,  by  R.  P.  S.  (Rich- 
ard Penn  Smith). 

The  Ladies'  Literary  Port  Folio  was  begun 
December  10,  1828.  It  was  published  in 
quarto  form  by  Thomas  C.  Clarke,  No.  67 
Arcade. 

An  association  of  physicians  published 
every  fortnight  after  September  9,  1829,  the 
Journal  of  Health.  Henry  H.  Porter,  at  No. 
108  Chestnut  Street,  was  the  publisher  of  this 
sixteen  page  magazine,  whose  motto  was 
"  Health — the  poor  man's  riches,  the  rich 
man's  bhss." 

The  Banner  of  the  Constitution  was  a  v/eekly 
journal  of  New  York  City,  from  December, 
1829,  to  May,  1831.  In  the  latter  month  it 
was  transferred  to  Philadelphia,  because,  as 
the  editor  explained,  "As  Pennsylvania  is 
without  a  single  paper  bold  enough  to  speak 
out  the  language  of  truth  in  the  strong  terms 
befitting  the  actual  crisis  of  affairs,  we  have 
resolved  to  transfer  our  establishment  to  Phila- 
delphia and  to  resume  our  old  position  on 
the  field  of  battle." 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  20/ 

The  Protestant  Episcopalian  and  Church  Reg- 
ister was  "  devoted  to  the  interests  of  religion 
in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church."  It  was 
begun  in  January,  1830,  became  the  property 
of  John  S.  Littell  in  1838,  and  on  January  5, 
1839,  appeared  in  a  fresh  guise  as  the  Banner 
of  the  Cross. 

Godefs  Lady's  Book  was  the  chief  finan- 
cial success  among  the  Philadelphia  maga- 
zines, and,  after  the  Port  Folio,  enlisted  the 
services  of  the  greatest  number  of  the  best 
writers.  The  circulation,  largely  due  to  its 
popular  colored  fashion  plates,  increased  to 
150,000  a  month.  It  was  begun  in  July,  1830, 
by  Louis  A.  Godey,  who  continued  to  direct 
his  continuously  prosperous  journal  until 
1877.  Some  of  the  earliest  compositions  of 
Longfellow,  Holmes,  Poe,  Bayard  Taylor, 
Lydia  H.  Sigourney,  Frances  Osgood  and 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  appeared  in  this  mag- 
azine. 

For  many  years  the  Lady's  Book  was  edited 
by  Sarah  Josepha  Hale.  She  was  born  in 
Newport,  New  Hampshire,  24th  October, 
1788,  and  died  in  Philadelphia  30th  April, 
1879.     From    1828    to    1837    she    edited,    in 


208  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Boston,  the  Ladies'  Magazine.  When  that 
magazine  was  united  in  1837  with  Godefs 
Lady's  Book,  Mrs.  Hale  became  editor  of  the 
latter  periodical,  and  made  her  home  in  Phila- 
delphia in  1 84 1.  She  was  the  originator  of 
the  Seamen's  Aid  Society.  She  organized 
the  fair  whereby  the  fund  for  the  completion 
of  the  Bunker  Hill  monument  was  raised.  It 
was  through  her  zealous  insistence  that 
Thanksgiving  Day  was  made  a  national  holi- 
day. She  published  many  books  in  prose 
and  verse,  and  some  fugitive  poems,  "  Mary's 
Lamb,"  *' It  Snows,"  and  "The  Light  of 
Home,"  that  were  everywhere  known. 

Another  ladies'  magazine  was  the  Ladies' 
Garland,  published  by  John  Libby,  April  15, 
1837-June,  1838. 

The  Herald  of  Truth,  a  liberal  religious 
weekly,  was  published  by  M.  T.  C.  Gould,  No.  6 
North  Eighth  Street,  for  a  short  time  after 
January,  1831. 

The  Presbyterian  was  begun  February  16, 
1831. 

The  Lutheran  Observer  was  also  commenced 
in  1 83 1.  It  was  a  continuation  of  the  Lutheran 
Intelligencer,  founded  in  March,  1826,  which 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  2O9 

was  the  first  Lutheran  periodical  issued  in 
America. 

The  Philadelphia  Liberalist,  edited  by  Rev. 
Zelotes  Fuller,  was  issued  weekly  after  June  9, 
1832. 

The  Atlantic  Journal  and  Friend  of  Knowl- 
edge was  edited  in  Philadelphia  in  1832  by 
Constantine  Samuel  Rafinesque.  The  editor 
was  a  celebrated  botanist,  who  was  born  in 
Constantinople  in  1784,  and  died  in  Philadel- 
phia, September  14,  1842.  His  father  had 
been  a  Philadelphia  merchant.  Rafinesque 
became  professor  of  botany  in  Transylvania 
University,  Lexington,  Ky.  Eight  numbers 
only  of  the  Atlantic  Journal  appeared. 

T\\^  Cholera  Gazette,  ]\x\y  11,  1832-Novem- 
ber  21,  1832,  a  weekly  paper,  was  published 
by  Carey,  Lea  and  Blanchard.  It  was  edited 
by  George  Washington  Dickson,  a  popular 
negro  minstrel,  who  published  in  New  York, 
in  1839,  another  weekly  called  the  Polyanthus. 

The  North  American  Quarterly  Magazine 
was  begun  in  Philadelphia,  in  1833,  by  Sum- 
ner Lincoln  Fairfield,  the  author  of  "  The 
Cities  of  the  Plain."  Fairfield  was  born  in 
Warwick,  Mass.,  June  25,  1803.  The  sad 
14 


2IO  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Story  of  his  life  of  sickness  and  distress  was 
told  by  his  wife  (Jane  Frazee)  in  1846.  She 
collected  the  money  that  made  the  existence 
of  the  magazine  possible,  and  her  pertinacity 
and  courage  kept  the  magazine  alive  for  five 
years.  Concerning  the  origin  of  the  enter- 
prise she  writes : 

*'  I  returned  to  my  home  after  having  ob- 
tained the  number  of  eight  signatures,  amount- 
ing to  forty  dollars.  My  husband  took  little 
notice  of  my  success  for  a  time.  I  paid  the 
house  rent  and  secured  the  comforts  of  a 
home.  Each  day  I  set  apart  for  my  visits 
five  or  six  hours.  In  this  way  I  soon  laid 
aside  the  means  sufficient  to  issue  the  first 
number  of  the  North  American  Quarterly  Mag- 
azine. When  I  had  accumulated  the  sum  of 
seven  hundred  dollars  I  gave  it  into  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Fairfield.  He  %eemed  amazed  at  my 
success.  He  found  a  dwelling  to  rent  on 
Tenth,  near  Chestnut  Street.  To  this  pleasant 
abode  we  immediately  repaired.  In  a  very 
short  time  the  work  was  out,  and  once  more 
my  heart  rejoiced  "  (Autobiography  of  Jane 
Fairfield,  p.  97). 

Fairfield    always    contended   that   Bulwer 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  211 

stole  from  him  the  plot  of  his  "  Last  Days  of 
Pompeii."  The  story  as  told  by  Mrs.  Fair- 
field is  as  follows  :  "  His  great  poem, '  The  Last 
Night  of  Pompeii/  was  finished  in  1830,  and 
soon  after  its  publication  my  husband  sent 
copies  to  England,  to  Bulwer.  He  also  wrote 
him  a  very  long  letter,  but  never  received 
either  an  acknowledgment  of  the  poem  or 
the  letter.  Bulwer's  novel  of  a  similar  title 
appeared  about  two  years  afterward,  and,  it  is 
only  justice  to  the  poet  to  say,  was  in  every 
respect  an  entire  and  most  flagrant  plagiarism. 
The  Argument,  the  Introduction  of  the  Two 
Lovers,  Converted  Christians,  Forebodings  of 
the  Destruction,  The  Picture  of  Pompeii  in 
Ruins,  The  Forum  of  Pompeii,  The  Manners 
and  Morals  of  Campania  Portrayed,  Diomede, 
the  Praetor,  The  Night  Storm,  Vesuvius 
Threatening,  Dialogue  of  the  Christians — the 
scenes  of  the  whole  plot,  even  the  names  of 
characters,  were  all  taken  from  this  most  grand 
and  sublime  poem''  (Autobiography  of  Jane 
Fairfield,  p.  90). 

The  North  American  Quarterly  Magazine 
ceased  in  1838. 

Waldie's  Select  Circulating  Library ^  furnish- 


212  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

ing  the  best  popular  literature,  price  five  dollars 
for  fifty-two  numbers,  containing  matter  equal 
to  fifty  London  duodecimo  volumes ;  printed 
and  published  weekly  by  Adam  Waldie,  No.  6 
North  Eighth  Street,  Philadelphia.  It  was 
begun  January  15,  1833,  and  was  edited  by 
John  Jay  Smith  (i  798-1 881).  Smith  had 
been  the  editor  of  the  Saturday  Bulletin, 
1830-32,  LitteWs  Museum,  Walsh's  National 
Gazette  and  the  Daily  Express.  The  magazine 
reprinted  standard  works  and  published  origi- 
nal reviews  and  literary  notes. 

The  American  Lancet,  edited  by  F.  S.  Beattie, 
began  February  23,  1833,  ^^<i  ^^^  published 
fortnightly  by  Turner  and  Son. 

The  Spy  in  Philadelphia  and  Spirit  of  the 
Age,  a  weekly  journal  advocating  purity  in 
politics,  censured  the  vices  of  the  time  for  a 
few  weeks  after  July  6,  1833. 

The  Advocate  of  Science  ajid  Annals  of 
Natural  History  was  conducted  by  W.  P.  Gib- 
bons, 1834-5. 

The  Gentleman^ s  Vade-Mecum,  or  the  Sport- 
ing and  Dramatic  Companion,  ]3.nua.ry  i,  1835- 
June  25,  1836,  contained  original  dramas  and 
musical  compositions,  fast  heats  and  pictures 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  21 3 

of  celebrated  racers.  Charles  Alexander,  its 
publisher,  sold  it  to  Louis  A.  Godey,  Joseph 
C.  Neal  and  Morton  McMichael,  who  made 
out  of  it  the  Saturday  News  and  Literary 
Gazette,  which  began  its  course  July  2,  1836, 
and  ultimately  became  a  part  of  the  Saturday 
Evening  Post.  The  editor  of  both  publications 
was  Joseph  Clay  Neal  (1807- 1847),  ^^^  ^^^ 
edited  the  Pemisylvanian^  a  Democratic  daily 
newspaper,  from  1831  to  1844,  succeeding 
James  Gordon  Bennett  in  the  editorial  chair. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  he  owned  the  Satur- 
day Gazette,  which  he  and  Morton  McMichael 
had  established.  His  "  Charcoal  Sketches  " 
(Philadelphia,  1837),  which  Charles  Dickens 
republished  in  London,  were  originally  con- 
tributed to  the  Pennsylvanian  under  the  title, 
"City  Worthies."  His  wife,  Alice  Bradley 
Haven  (i 828-1 863),  contributed,  while  a 
school-girl,  several  sketches  under  the  name 
of  Alice  G.  Lee  to  the  Saturday  Gazette.  She 
was  generally  known  as  ""  Cousin  Alice,"  and 
under  this  name  assumed  editorial  charge  of 
the  Gazette  after  her  husband's  death. 

The   Radical  Reformer  and  Workingman' s 
Advocate  was  published  v/eekly  after  June  13, 


214  PHILADELPHIA   MAGAZINES. 

i835>  by  Thomas  Bro.,  at  No.  124  South 
Front  Street.  In  October  it  was  issued  fort- 
nightly. 

The  Botanic  Senti?iel  and  Literary  Gazette 
(August  12,  1835-June  15,  1840),  published 
weekly  by  J.  Coates. 

The  hidependent  Weekly  Press,  "  upholding 
the  right  of  free  discussion,  given  to  us  by  our 
God  and  guarded  by  the  laws  of  our  coun- 
try," was  published  December  5,  1835.  It 
hoped  and  intended  to  be  a  literary  paper,  but 
the  quality  of  its  literature  is  inferior  even  to 
that  of  its  infantile  contemporaries. 

Every  Bodie's  Album  was  a  monthly  miscel- 
lany of  "  humorous  tales,  essays,  anecdotes 
and  facetise,"  and  the  other  symptoms  of  al- 
buminous fever.  It  was  begun  July  I,  1836.  It 
was  a  large  magazine,  containing  a  number 
of  absurd  engravings.  Charles  Alexander, 
the  publisher  of  the  Vade-Mecum,  issued  this 
magazine  also. 

The  Eclectic  Journal  of  Medicine  (November, 
1836-October,  1840)  was  published  monthly 
by  Barrington  and  Haswell,  and  edited  by 
John  Bell. 

Saturday  Chronicle  was  published   weekly 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  215 

by  Matthias  and  Taylor,  Number  84  South 
Second  Street,  from  1836  until  1840. 

The  Weekly  Messenger  was  published  from 
1836  to  1848. 

Adam  Waldie  built  up  a  lumbering  weekly 
journal,  January  6,  1837,  which  he  called 
Waldies  Literary  Omnibus.  This  carry-all 
was  devoted  to  "  news,  books  entire,  sketches, 
reviews,  tales,  and  miscellaneous  intelligence." 

The  Philadelphia  Visitor  and  Parlor  Com- 
panio7i,  a  fortnightly  journal,  published  from 
March,  1837,  by  W.  B.  Rogers,  Number  49 
Chestnut  Street,  and  edited  by  H.  N.  Moore, 
was  filled  with  toys  of  fashion  and  shreds  of 
social  folly. 

The  Ajnerican  Journal  of  Homoeopathy ^  a 
bi-monthly  publication,  was  begun  August, 
1838,  by  W.  L.  J.  Kiderlen  &  Co. 

The  United  States  Magazine  and  Democratic 
Review  was  started  some  time  in  1838  and 
published  until  1840. 

Graham's  magazine. 

"  My  name  has  figured,  I  assure  you,  on 
the  covers  of  Graham  and  Godey,  making 
as   respectable   an    appearance,    for   aught   I 


2l6  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

could  see,  as  any  of  the  canonized  bead-roll 
with  which  it  was  associated." 

So  Holgrave  tells  Miss  Phoebe  Pyncheon 
in  the  "House  of  Seven  Gables,"  and  voices 
Hawthorne's  and  New  England's  appreciation 
of  the  merit  and  supremacy  of  the  two  Phila- 
delphia magazines  which  in  the  middle  of  this 
century  engaged  the  services  and  elicited  the 
abilities  of  the  best  American  writers. 

Mr.  George  R.  Graham,  whose  name  was 
once  known  wherever  books  were  read  in 
America,  and  whose  intimate  relations  with 
American  literature  seemed  "too  intrinse 
t'unloose,"  has  quite  outlived  the  memories  of 
his  countrymen.  Few  are  aware  that  the 
generous  and  able  publisher  who  gave  em- 
ployment to  young  James  Russell  Lowell, 
who  awarded  the  prize  for  the  "  Gold-Bug  " 
to  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  and  who  was  almost  the 
first  to  pay  American  authors  for  their  work, 
is  still  living  in  Orange,  New  Jersey.  He  has 
outlived  health  and  fortune  as  well  as  fame. 
And  now,  rich  only  in  memory,  and  the  pre- 
cious store  of  reminiscences  of  nearly  four- 
score years,  he  lies  in  the  Memorial  Hospital 
at  Orange  contentedly  awaiting  the  end, 
neither  anxious  to  go  nor  eager  to  remain. 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  21/ 

His  few  personal  wants  and  the  necessary 
comforts  of  his  age  are  fully  provided  by  Mr. 
George  W.  Childs,  whose  liberal  hand, 
prompted  by  his  generous  heart,  never  wearies 
in  doing  deeds  of  generosity. 

Mr.  Graham  has  told  me  in  detail  the  story 
of  his  magazine.  He  was  the  owner  and 
editor  of  Atkinson's  Casket^  Avhen,  in  1841, 
William  E.  Burton,  the  actor,  came  to  him 
with  the  request  that  he  should  buy  the  Gen- 
tleman's Magazine,  of  which  Burton  had  been 
the  proprietor  for  four  years.  Burton  ex- 
plained that  money  was  needed  for  his  new 
theatre,  that  the  magazine  must  be  sold,  that 
it  numbered  thirty-five  hundred  subscribers, 
and  that  it  would  be  sold  outright  for  thirty- 
five  hundred  dollars.  Graham,  who  at  that 
time  had  fifteen  hundred  subscribers  to  his 
own  magazine,  accepted  the  offer,  and  the  Gen- 
tleman's Magazine  was  transferred  to  him. 
"  There  is  one  thing  more,"  said  Burton,  "  I 
want  you  to  take  care  of  my  young  editor." 
That  "young  editor,"  who  in  this  manner  en- 
tered the  employ  of  George  Graham,  was 
Edgar  Allan  Poe.  Mr.  Graham  bears  clear 
and  willing  testimony  to  the  efficient  service 


2l8  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

rendered  by  Poe  to  the  new  magazine,  which, 
now  combined  with  the  Casket,  took  the 
name  of  its  new  owner.  He  found  Httle  in 
Poe's  conduct  to  reprove,  nor  does  he  remem- 
ber any  cause  beyond  envy  and  maUce  for 
Griswold's  truculent  slanders.  A  quarrel  of 
an  hour  led  to  Poe's  dismissal,  but  the  friendly 
relations  between  the  wayward  poet  and  his 
former  employer  remained  unsevered.  From 
New  York,  Poe  sent  Graham  the  manuscript 
of  a  story  for  which  he  asked  and  received 
fifty  dollars.  The  story  remained  unpublished 
for  a  year,  when  Poe  again  appeared  in  the 
editorial  room  and  begged  for  the  return  of 
the  manuscript,  that  he  might  try  with  it  for 
the  prize  of  one  hundred  dollars  offered  for 
the  best  prose  tale.  Graham  showed  his  *'  love 
and  friending"  for  the  author  by  surrender- 
ing the  story,  and  the  judges  awarded  to  Ed- 
gar Poe  the  prize  for  the  "<jold-Bug." 

After  the  dismissal  of  Poe,  the  magazine, 
still  under  Graham's  management,  was  edited 
by  Ann  Stephens  and  Charles  J.  Peterson,  until 
Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold  sat  in  the  responsible 
chair.  James  Russell  Lowell  was  a  subordi- 
nate editor  of  the  magazine  as  early  as  1843, 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  2I9 

and  in  April  of  that  year  communicated  to 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne  the  desire  of  the  editor, 
Edgar  Allan  Poe,  that  he  too  should  become 
a  contributor.  In  1845  Lowell  was  married 
and  continued  to  reside  with  his  wife  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  following  letter  was  the  first 
written  by  Mrs.  Lowell  from  Philadelphia  to 
her  friend  Mrs.  Hawthorne  : 

Philadelphia,  Jan.  16,  1845. 

My  Dear  Sophia  : — I  wished  to  write  to 
you  before  I  left  home,  but  in  the  hurry  of 
those  last  hours  I  had  no  time,  and  instead  of 
delicate  sentiments  could  only  send  you  gross 
plum-cake,  which  I  must  hope  you  received. 
We  are  most  delightfully  situated  here  in 
every  respect,  surrounded  with  kind  and  sym- 
pathizing friends,  yet  allowed  by  them  to  be 
as  quiet  and  retired  as  we  choose ;  but  it  is 
always  a  pleasure  to  know  you  can  have  so- 
ciety if  you  wish  f6r  it,  by  walking  a  few  steps 
beyond  your  own  door. 

We  live  in  a  little  chamber  on  the  third 
story,  quite  low  enough  to  be  an  attic,  so  that  we 
feel  classical  in  our  environment ;  and  we  have 
one  of  the  sweetest  and  most  motherly  of 
Quaker  women  to  anticipate  all  our  wants,  and 


230  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

make  us  comfortable  outwardly  as  we  are 
blest  inwardly.  James's  prospects  are  as  good 
as  an  author's  ought  to  be,  and  I  begin  to  fear 
we  shall  not  have  the  satisfaction  of  being 
so  very  poor  after  all.  But  we  are,  in  spite  of 
this  disappointment  of  our  expectations,  the 
happiest  of  mortals  or  spirits,  and  cling  to  the 
skirts  of  every  passing  hour,  although  we 
know  the  next  will  bring  us  still  more  joy. 
Your  most  happy  and  affectionate 
Maria   Lowell. 

"  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  his  Wife,"  Vol. 
I,  p.  283. 

The  house  so  happily  described,  and  in 
which  Lowell  so  pleasantly  lived  while  he 
wrote  for  Gi^aham's  and  won  a  high  place  on 
its  ''  canonized  bead-roll,"  was  the  old  house, 
still  standing  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Fourth 
and  Arch  Streets,  which  had  been  built  for  the 
residence  of  William  Smith,  editor  of  the 
American  Magazine  (1757-8). 

Griswold  introduced  James  Fenimore 
Cooper  to  Mr.  Graham  in  the  editorial  sanc- 
tum, and  Graham  bought  from  him  his  lives 
of  the  naval  commanders,  and  engaged  him 
to  write  a  serial  story.     Cooper  wrote  "  The 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  2^1 

Isles  of  the  Gulf/'  afterward  known  as  "Jack 
Tier,"  and  received  eighteen  hundred  dollars 
for  it ;  "  though,"  says  Graham,  "  the  money 
might  as  well  have  been  thrown  into  the  sea, 
for  it  never  brought  me  a  new  subscriber." 

Longfellow's  "  Spanish  Student  "  appeared 
for  the  first  time  in  Graham' s  Magazine,  and 
Longfellow  also  contributed  ''  Nuremberg " 
(June,  1844),  "The  Arsenal  at  Springfield" 
(May,  1844),  "Dante's  Divina  Commedia " 
(June,  1850),  "Childhood"  (March,  1844), 
"Belfry  of  Bruges  "  (Vol.  22). 

Poe  published  here  "The  Murders  of  the 
Rue  Morgue,"  three  chapters  on  Autography 
(Nov.,  Dec,  1841-Jan.,  1842),  a  review  of 
Home's  "Orion"  (March,  1844),  "Dream- 
land" (June,  1844),  "To  Helen,"  "  Israfel," 
"A  Few  Words  about  Brainard,"  "Life  in 
Death,"  "  The  Mask  of  the  Red  Death  "  (May, 
1842),  numerous  reviews  of  new  books,  and 
"  The  Conqueror  Worm  "  (Vol.  22). 

After  Griswold  left  the  Magazine  Mr. 
Graham  assumed  more  of  the  literary  manage- 
ment, and  engaged  E.  P.  Whipple  to  write 
the  editorial  reviews  of  the  more  important 
books,  which  he  continued  to  do  until   1854. 


222  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne  included  many  of  his 
early  contributions  to  this  magazine  in  his 
"  Twice-Told  Tales."  "  The  Earth's  Holo- 
caust "  appeared  in  May,  1844. 

George  D.  Prentice  wrote  verses.  '*  Fanny 
Forester"  (Mrs.  Judson)  sent  some  brill- 
iant sketches,  and  Phoebe  and  Alice  Gary, 
and  Grace  Greenwood  were  faithful  corre- 
spondents. From  the  South  came  verses  and 
prose  tales  by  William  Gilmore  Simms.  Other 
captain  jewels  in  Graham's  carcanet  were  the 
gifts  of  Miss  Sedgwick,  Frances  S.  Osgood, 
N.  P.  Willis  ("  it  was  very  comfortable  that 
there  should  have  been  a  Willis  "),  James  K. 
Paulding,  Park  Benjamin,  W.  W.  Story,  Geo. 
W.  Bethune,  Mary  Lockhart  Lawson,  Charles 
Fenno  Hoffman,  Alfred  B.  Street  and  Albert 
Pike. 

Among  the  Philadelphians  who  rendered 
frequent  aid  to  the  editor  were  Joseph  C. 
Neal,  Richard  Penn  Smith,  Dr.  J.  K.  Mitch- 
ell, Robert  Morris  and  Thomas  Dunn  Eng- 
lish, the  author  of  '*  Ben  Bolt,"  who  would 
seem  to  have  tasted  the  fountain  of  eternal 
youth,  and  has  gone  to  Congress  in  1890  a 
jolly,  thriving  candidate. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  223 

William  Henry  Herbert  (Frank  Forester) 
furnished  a  number  of  sporting  sketches  and 
other  articles. 

The  circulation  of  Graham's  Magazine 
when  at  the  top  of  popularity  was  thirty-five 
or  thirty-seven  thousand.  Mr.  Graham  sold 
out  in  1848,  but  bought  back  the  property  in 
1849.     He  finally  parted  with  it  in  1854. 

Washington  Irving  alone,  among  the  far- 
shining  men  of  letters  in  the  country,  had  no 
connection  with  Graham's.  The  Knicker- 
bocker Magazine  of  New  York  found  place 
for  all  that  the  facility  of  his  pen  could  create, 
and  guarded  jealously  the  productions  of  their 
"  crack  writer." 

Graham's  Magazine  began  with  volume 
eighteen,  being  the  addition  of  the  ten  vol- 
umes of  Atkinson's  Casket,  and  the  seven  vol- 
umes of  Burton's  Gentleman's  Magazine. 
This  first  volume,  1841,  contained  Poe's 
"  Descent  into  a  Maelstrom  "  and  his  "  Mur- 
ders in  the  Rue  Morgue." 

The  twenty-first  volume,  1842,  presents  the 
name  of  Rufus  W.  Griswold  upon  the  cover. 
The  thirtieth  volume  was  edited  by  Graham 
alone;  the  thirty-second  by  Graham  and  Rob- 


224  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

ert  T.  Conrad;  the  thirty-fifth  by  Graham, 
Joseph  R.  Chandler  and  Bayard  Taylor ;  the 
fiftieth  by  Charles  Godfrey  Leland.  On  the 
first  of  January,  1859,  Graham's  Magazine 
became  the  American  Monthly. 

On  March  15,  1838,  John  GreenleafWhittier 
became  editor  of  the  Perinsylvania  Freeman, 
published  at  31  North  Fifth  Street.  He  was 
successor  to  Benjamin  Lundy. 

Graham's  particular  patent  of  nobility  is  the 
tact  that  he  was  the  first  of  American  pub- 
lishers to  pay  fair  prices  to  American  authors. 

The  Lady's  A^naranth  was  another  venture 
of  1838,  and  was  issued  from  No.  274  Market 
Street. 

Adam  Waldie  was  the  publisher  of  the 
Americayi  Phrenological  Journal  and  Miscellany, 
begun  in  November,  1838. 

The  Philadelphia  Reporter  was  called  into 
being  in  1838,  at  No.  45  North  Sixth  Street, 
but  no  physic  could  prolong  its  sickly  days, 
and  it  was  discontinued  in  a  few  months'  time. 

The  Christian  Observer  was  a  weekly  Pres- 
byterian journal  commenced  in  1838,  and  was 
for  many  years  published  from  No.  1 34  Chest- 
nut Street. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  225 

The  Baptist  Record  was  a  religious  publica- 
tion continued  from  1838  to  1857. 

The  American  Phrenological  Journal  was 
issued  from  No.  46  Carpenter  Street  from  1838 
to  1 84 1. 

The  Farmer's  Cabinet,  devoted  to  agricult- 
ure, was  published  from  1838  to  1850. 

The  Ladies'  Companion  was  published  by 
Orrin  Rodgers  for  two  years  following  1838. 

Rodgers  also  published  the  Medico- Chirnr- 
gical  Review,  about  1838.  Its  life,  however, 
was  short. 

Peterson's  Ladies'  National  Magazine. — 
It  was  George  R.  Graham  who  first  suggested 
to  his  friend,  Charles  J.  Peterson,  then  editor 
of  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  the  publication 
of  a  fashion  journal,  patterned  upon  the  pop- 
ular French  periodicals.  Peterson's  Magazine 
is  now  ( 1 891)  in  its  fiftieth  year,  and  is  still  the 
best  and  most  popular  pubHcation  of  its  class. 
Its  circulation  has  been  as  high  as  one  hundred 
and  sixty-five  thousand.  It  is  to-day  a  stock 
company,  of  which  Mrs.  C.  J.  Peterson  is 
President.  The  same  glittering  row  of  writers 
who  contributed  to  Graham's  helped  also  in 
the  making  of  Peterson's. 
15 


226  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

Frances  Hodgson  Burnett  published  her 
first  story,  "  Ethel's  Sir  Lancelot,"  in  Peter- 
son's for  November,  1868.  The  story  filled 
five  pages.  Mrs.  Frank-  Leslie  thinks  that 
Mrs.  Burnett's  first  literary  work  was  for 
Frank  Leslie  in  1867  or  1868,  and  that  she 
received  her  first  check  in  payment  for  an  ar- 
ticle in  Frank  Leslie's  Magazine.  Mrs.  Leslie 
says  that  Mrs.  Burnett  was  then  living  in 
Knoxville  with  her  brother  who  was  a  civil 
engineer. 

Mr.  Peterson  died  March  4,  1887.  The  fol- 
lowing editorial  note  appeared  in  The  Phila- 
delphia Inquirer  of  Monday,  March  7,  1 887 : 

CHARLES   J.    PETERSON. 

"  No  man  was  ever  more  beloved  by  his 
friends — and  among  them  were  those  who 
were  great  and  good  in  all  that  constitutes  in- 
tellectual greatness  and  moral  goodness — than 
Charles  J.  Peterson,  whose  death  occurred  on 
Friday  night  last.  He  was  one  of  that  group 
of  men  who  half  a  century  ago  began  to  make 
Philadelphia  famous  as  the  literary  centre  of 
the  country.  Liberally  educated,  trained  to 
the  law,  he  turned  naturally  to  literature,  to 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  22/ 

which  his  brilliant  mind,  his  ripe  scholarship, 
his  fervid  imagination,  his  refined  taste  di- 
rected and  impelled  him.  He  survived  nearly 
all  of  those  who  had  but  a  brief  while  before 
or  after  him  entered  upon  the  world  of  letters 
in  this  city.  At  that  time  the  best  literary 
thought  of  the  nation  was  expressed  through 
the  medium  of  Graham's  Magazine,  of  which 
Mr.  Peterson  was  the  editor.  Among  his 
learned  and  brilliant  associates  were  James 
Russell  Lowell,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  Dr.  Rufus 
Griswold,  Dr.  Bird,  Richard  Penn  Smith, 
Professor  J.  K.  Mitchell,  Judge  Conrad,  Mor- 
ton McMichael  and  Louis  A.  Godey.  Of  all 
these  men  with  whom  Mr.  Peterson  worked 
and  lived  upon  the  most  intimate  terms  of 
literary  companionship  Mr.  Lowell  now  alone 
survives.  Fifty  years  ago  they  were  the 
names  which  gave  to  American  literature 
distinction,  and  made  Philadelphia  the  most 
prominent  centre  of  genius  and  talent.  Among 
his  contemporaries  Mr.  Peterson  held  distin- 
guished rank,  and  had  he  corttinued  his  liter- 
ary career  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he 
would  have  continued  to  hold  it  even  in  the 
army  of  writers  who  in  recent  years  have  be- 
come so  famous. 


228  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

"But  Mr.  Peterson  put  aside  writing  to  be- 
come a  publisher,  in  which  he  achieved  re- 
markable and  deserved  success,  and  subse- 
quently he  wrote  but  infrequently,  and  then 
only  brief  brochures  intended  solely  for  pri- 
vate circulation  among  his  friends,  but  which 
showed  the  fertility  of  his  mind,  his  rare  fancy, 
fine  taste  and  ripe  judgment. 

*'But  while  Mr.  Peterson  was  commonly 
known  as  an  author,  editor  and  publisher,  he 
was  best  known  by  those  who  enjoyed  the 
happiness  and  privilege  of  his  acquaintance- 
ship, friendship  or  more  affectionate  relations, 
as  a  man  of  the  noblest  character,  the  tender- 
est  sensibilities,  the  most  refined  and  gentle 
qualities.  Advancing  age,  a  great  and  sor- 
rowful loss,  that  of  an  only  son  by  sudden 
death,  induced  him  to  withdraw  from  the  so- 
ciety that  had  always  welcomed  his  presence, 
but  in  his  seclusion  he  did  not  grow  misan- 
thropical or  morbid.  His  faith  in  God  and 
men  seemed  to  grow  stronger  and  greater  the 
nearer  he  approached  the  end,  and  in  dying 
he  was  close  to  both.  His  nature  was  most 
generous  and  affectionate;  and  age,  which  so 
often  dulls  and  hardens  the  finest  characters. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  229 

left  his  brilliant  and  gentle  to  the  end.  He 
was  a  man  of  large  benevolence,  giving  largely 
to  those  who  in  his  wise  judgment  were 
worthy,  and  his  bounty  to  authors  and  old 
associates  who  had  struggled  and  fallen  by 
the  way  was  measured  only  by  their  needs. 
He  was  a  good  citizen  and  a  good  man ;  those 
who  knew  him  best  loved  him  best.  We  can 
speak  of  him  only  as  he  was  in  that  part  of  his 
daily  life  with  which  all  who  happily  knew 
him  were  familiar.  His  life  within  his  own 
home,  which  was  his  own,  and  into  which  we 
would  not  intrude,  was  noblest  of  all,  full  of 
refinement,  love  and  chivalric  devotion.  His 
loss  will  most  be  felt  there,  though  there  is  no 
friend  who  shared  his  friendship  upon  whom 
it  will  not  fall  heavily  and  sorrowfully." 

The  Botanic  Medical  Reformer  and  Home 
Physician  was  published  monthly  by  H.  Hol- 
lemback  and  Co.,  and  edited  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Cooke.     It  was  begun  May  7,  1840. 

The  Philadelphia  Repository  (1840- 1852) 
was  begun  by  William  Henry  Gilder  (181 2- 
1864)  father  of  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  editor 
of  the  Century  Magazine.  The  first  William 
Henry,  grandfather  of  Richard  Watson,  laid 


230  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

the  corner-stone  of  Girard  College.  William 
Henry  the  second  continued  to  edit  the  Re- 
pository about  one  year  ;  he  subsequently  pub- 
lished in  Philadelphia  the  Literary  Register,  a 
quarterly  review. 

The  Literalist  was  published  from  1840  to 
1842  at  No.  6^  South  Second  Street.  James 
Rees  edited  the  Dramatic  Mirror  and  Literary 
Companion,  August  14,  1 841,  at  No.  15  North 
Sixth  Street. 

The  K??///^ /^^//^'^  ^^^/^  (September,  1841- 
August,  1842)  was  published  at  No.  10 1 
Chestnut  Street,  and  was  edited  by  John  Frost, 
professor  of  history  in  the  Central  High  School. 

It  was  the  Dollar  Magazine,  commenced 
January  25,  1843,  ^^^  offered  the  prize  in 
June,  1843,  f"^^  the  best  story,  and,  as  already 
related,  Edgar  Allan  Poe  entered  the  lists  of 
fame,  and  drew  the  prize  in  the  lottery  with 
the  *'  Gold-Bug."  Hawthorne  published  here, 
in  185 1,  "The  Unpardonable  Sin."  The  pub- 
lishers of  the  Dollar  Newspaper  were  the  pub- 
lishers of  the  Ledger.  When  Mr.  George  W. 
Childs  purchased  the  Ledger  he  bought  also 
the  Dollar  Magazine,  and  changed  its  name  to 
the  Home  Weekly  and  Household  Newspaper. 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.      23 1 

The  Occident  and  American  Jewish  Advocate 
was  published  monthly  by  Isaac  Leeser  from 
No.  118  South  Fourth  Street,  and  was  contin- 
ued from  1 843  to  1 847. 

The  Legal  Intelligencer  began  December  2, 
1843,  and,  published  weekly  from  that  time  to 
the  present,  is  the  oldest  law  journal  in  the 
United  States.  It  was  founded  by  Henry  E. 
Wallace,  and  has  been  edited  by  J.  Hubley 
Ashton,  Dallas  Sanders  and  Henry  C.  Titus. 

Miss  Eliza  Leslie,  sister  to  Charles  Robert 
Leslie,  after  winning  her  first  literary  distinc- 
tion with  her  story, "  Mrs.  Washington  Potts," 
in  Godey' s  Lady s  Book,  began,  with  the  aid  of 
T.  S.  Arthur,  the  publication  in  January,  1843, 
of  Miss  Leslie's  Magazine.  In  the  address  of 
"  The  Publisher  to  the  Public  "  the  new  ven- 
ture is  thus  introduced  and  commended : 
"  Miss  Leslie's  Magazine  !  There  is  something 
in  the  very  name  that  foretokens  a  prosper- 
ous career.  It  is  a  name  associated  with  the 
pleasantest  passages  of  our  current  American 
literature — with  the  most  brilliant  triumphs 
of  our  most  brilliant  periodicals.  Who  does 
not  remember  '  Mrs.  Washington  Potts  '  and 
that  exquisite  tease,  '  Old  Aunt  Quinby,'  and 


232  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

the  *  Miss  Vanlears,'  and  their  pseudo-French 
gallant ;  and  '  Mrs.  Woodbridge,'  and  her 
economical  mamma,  and  the  thousand  other 
creations  of  Miss  Leslie's  admirable  pencil  ; 
and  remembering  these,  who  would  not  ven- 
ture to  predict  that  her  magazine  must  be  emi- 
nently successful  ?  We  know  that  it  will  be." 
The  first  number  contained  contributions  by 
T.  S.  Arthur,  Mrs.  Anna  Bache,  N.  P.  Willis, 
Virginia  Murray,  John  Bouvier,  Mrs.  L,  H. 
Sigourney,  Morton  McMichael  and  Mrs.  S.  C. 
Hall. 

Again,  in  February,  the  publisher  advanced 
before  the  public  with  a  modest  little  speech  : 
"  We  foresaw  that  our  magazine  would  create 
a  sensation,  but  we  had  no  idea  that  it  would 
produce  such  a  commotion  as  it  has  done. 
Everybody  is  in  rapture  with  it,  and  the  whole 
town  has  been  crowding  to  get  a  peep  at  it — 
for,  to  say  the  truth,  such  has  been  the  de- 
mand that  we  could  not  possibly  keep  pace 
with  it.  .  .  .  We  have  already  received  a 
larger  number  of  actual  subscriptions  than 
were  ever  before  obtained  for  any  periodical 
in  the  same  period ;  and  we  do  not  hazard 
anything  in  predicting  that  before  the  expira- 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  233 

tion  of  our  first  year  we  shall  have  a  greater 
circulation  than  any  other  monthly  publica- 
tion  And  then  our  contributors  are 

all  persons  of  genuine  merit — men  and  women 
who  write  understandingly,  and  who  know 
how  to  mingle  entertainment  with  profit.  No 
mawkish  sentimentality — no  diluted  common- 
places— no  pompous  parade  of  swollen  words 
— no  tumid  prosiness  can  find  admission  into 
our  columns,  for  we  shall  avoid  alike  the  hack- 
neyed author  whose  reputation  takes  the  place 
of  ability,  and  the  unfledged  scribbler  whose 
crudities  are  utter  abominations.  We  care 
nothing  for  mere  names,  though  a  good  deed 
is  none  the  worse  for  coming  from  a  good 
hand;  but  the  small  fry  of  literature — the 
lackadaisical  geniuses  —  Heaven  bless  the 
mark — who,  scum-like,  float  upon  the  surface, 
soiling  what  they  touch  and  disturbing  by 
their  presence  what,  but  for  them,  might  be 
free  from  offence — we  hold  in  utter  abhor- 
rence." 

In  Miss  Leslie's  Magazine  for  April,  1843, 
appeared  the  first  specimen  of  lithotinting 
that  had  been  attempted  in  America.  It  was 
the  work  of  an  artist  named  Richards,  who 


234  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

had  seen  several  productions  of  Mr.  Hull- 
mandel,  of  London,  who  had  been  experi- 
menting in  this  style. 

The  first  illustrated  comic  paper  on  an  orig- 
inal plan  published  in  America  was  \ki^  Johi 
Donkey.  The  editors  of  the  paper  were  G.  G. 
(Gaslight)  Foster  and  Thomas  Dunn  English. 
Foster  was  a  reporter  on  the  North  American 
who  had  written  sketches  of  New  York,  nota- 
bly the  account  of  the  illuminated  clock  of  the 
Seward  House,  and  who  had  been  brought  to 
Philadelphia  by  Morton  McMichael.  English 
was  born  in  Philadelphia,  June  29,  1 8 19,  and 
in  his  seventeenth  year  was  a  contributor  to 
Philadelphia  newspapers.  He  was  graduated 
in  medicine  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
in  1839,  and  after  studying  law  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1842.  His  famous  song,  "  Ben 
Bolt "  first  appeared  in  the  New  York  Mirror 
in  1843. 

The  first  illustrated  comic  paper  in  America, 
the  Lantern,  was  started  by  John  Brougham. 
"  This  paper,"  said  Foster  and  English,  "  pro- 
fesses to  be  funny.  Let  us  make  a  paper  that 
professes  to  be  stupid  " — and  Xh.Q  John  Donkey 
was  published  monthly  by  G.  B.  Zieber  at 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  235 

Third  and  Chestnut  Streets,  and  Zieber  and 
Foster  and  English  shared  regularly  in  the 
profits.  Nearly  all  the  articles  were  written 
by  English.  The  artist  of  the  magazine  was 
Felix  O.  C.  Darley ;  Henry  L.  Stephens  de- 
signed many  of  the  prints,  and  Hinckley  was 
the  engraver  of  the  magazine.  Barnet  Phillips, 
the  author  of  the  St^niggle,  a  journalist  born  in 
Philadelphia,  November  9,  1828,  helped  in  the 
composition  of  the  John  Donkey.  The  circula- 
tion rose  to  twelve  thousand,when  Zieber  failed, 
and  Foster  went  out,  and  the  circulation 
dropped  to  three  thousand.  The  first  volume 
was  completed  in  June,  1848,  and  only  a  few 
numbers  of  the  second  volume  were  issued. 

Metcalfe's  Miscellany  was  begun  in  March , 
1 841,  and  edited  by  Dr.  Thomas  Dunn  Eng- 
lish. The  contents  were  "  entirely  original," 
both  stories  and  verse.  The  subscription 
price,  one  dollar  per  year,  in  advance.  Eng- 
lish was  invited  to  edit  the  magazine  by  Met- 
calfe, who  had  been  a  printer  in  the  office  of 
Poulson's  Daily  Advertiser ,  and  who  knew  that 
English  wrote  editorials  for  that  paper.  J. 
Ross  Browne,  author  of  the  Califoriiia 
Sketches,  \wxotG.  Oriental  sketches  for  Metcalfe's. 


236  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

The  Ninetee7itJi  Century  was  begun  in  Jan- 
uary, 1848.  It  was  published  by  G.  B.  Zieber 
and  Co.,  and  edited  by  C.  Chauncey  Burr.  The 
first  volume  was  embellished  with  a  steel  en- 
graving of  Horace  Greeley,  and  the  second 
volume  with  an  engraving  of  John  Sartain. 
The  motto  upon  the  title-page  was  Goethe's 
famous  "  Light,  more  light  still." 

The  first  number  was  dedicated  to  Douglas 
Jerrold.  "  The  Heart  Broken,"  a  story  of 
Brockden  Brown's  life,  death  and  burial,  was 
contributed  by  George  Lippard  :  *'  He  became 
an — author !  Yes,  a  miserable  penster,  a 
scribbler,  a  fellow  who  spills  ink  for  bread  ! 
For  a  career  like  this  he  forsook  the  brilliant 
prospects  of  the  bar.  Yes,  he  set  himself 
down  in  the  prime  of  his  young  manhood  to 
make  his  bread  by  his  pen.  At  that  time  the 
cow  with  seven  horns,  or  the  calf  with  two 
heads  and  five  legs,  exhibited  in  some  mounte- 
bank's show,  was  not  half  so  rare  a  curiosity 
as — an  American  author  !" 

Among  the  contributors  to  the  magazine 
were  Mrs.  Sigourney,  T.  B.  Read,  Bayard 
Taylor  and  Dr.  Furness. 

The  Friends '  Reviezv  was  the  creation  of  the 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  23/ 

Orthodox  Friends,  in  1847.  Its  first  editor 
was  the  mathematician,  Enoch  Lewis,  who 
continued  to  direct  it  until  his  death,  in  1856. 
A  remarkable  literary  incident  is  associated 
with  the  issue  of  January,  1848.  In  that 
month  Elizabeth  Lloyd  (Howell),  widow  of 
Robert  Howell,  of  Philadelphia,  contributed 
anonymously  to  the  Revieiv  a  poem,  entitled 
"  Milton's  Prayer  for  Patience,"  in  which  the 
Miltonic  manner  was  so  deftly  imitated,  that 
even  the  very  elect  in  criticism  were  deceived 
by  it,  and  the  poem  was  actually  printed  in  the 
Oxford  edition  of  Milton  as  Milton's  own 
lament  for  his  loss  of  sight. 

Most  of  the  Philadelphia  magazines  of  the 
last  fifty  years  have  been  enriched  by  the  busy 
hand  of  Mr.  John  Sartain,  and  two  of  the 
most  interesting  of  the  city's  periodicals  were 
owned  and  edited  by  him.  Mr.  Sartain,  who 
has  won  the  highest  place  in  the  history  of 
American  engraving,  was  born  in  London, 
England,  October  24,  1808.  He  came  to 
America  in  1830,  and  settled  in  Philadelphia 
at  the  persuasion  of  Thomas  Sully.  No 
living  engraver  has  accomplished  as  much 
work  as  this  untiring  and  skilful  artist.     But 


238  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

it  is  not  as  an  artist  or  an  interpreter  of  art 
alone  that  he  has  won  high  honor ;  his  liter- 
ary labors,  though  less  conspicuous  and  less 
splendid,  are  significant  and  interesting. 

CampbelVs  Foreign  Monthly  Magazijie  began 
September  i ,  1 843.  It  was  published  monthly 
for  one  year  by  James  M.  Campbell,  of  98 
Chestnut  Street,  when  it  was  bought  outright 
by  Mr.  John  Sartain,  who  changed  the  title  to 
Campbell's  Foreign  Semi- Monthly,  or  Select 
Miscellany  of  European  Literature  and  Art 
(September,  1843,  to  September,  18/14).  Sar- 
tain engraved  a  plate  for  each  number,  and 
compiled  a  laborious  miscellany  of  the  latest 
intelligence  in  art,  science  and  letters.  Many 
famous  bits  of  literature  appeared  for  the  first 
time  in  America  in  this  magazine.  "The 
Bridge  of  Sighs,"  *'  The  Song  of  the  Shirt " 
(Vol.  V,  p.  211),  "The  Haunted  House" 
(Hood),  **  The  Pauper's  Funeral"  and  **  The 
Drop  of  Gin  "  (Vol.  V,  p.  138)  were  first  pub- 
lished in  these  pages. 

In  1848  Mr.  Sartain  purchased  the  Union 
Magazine  of  Literature  and  Art,  edited  in 
New  York  by  Caroline  Matilda  Kirkland,  the 
American    Miss  Mitford.     The  name   of  the 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  239 

magazine  was  changed,  and  Sartain's  Union 
Magazine  appeared  in  January,  1849,  edited 
by  Mrs.  Kirkland  and  Professor  John  S.  Hart, 
of  the  Central  High  School.  For  a  few- 
months  Dr.  Reynell  Coates  acted  as  editor, 
but  in  the  third  year  of  its  history  Mr.  Sar- 
tain  assumed  complete  charge  of  his  maga- 
zine. In  1852  it  again  returned  to  New  York, 
when  it  was  merged  into  the  National  Mag- 
azine. 

Longfellow  contributed  frequently  to  the 
magazine.  His  translation  of  *'  The  Blind 
Girl  of  Castel  Cuille  "  appeared  here  in  Jan- 
uary, 1850.  Poe  contributed  "The  Bells" 
(November,  1849)  and  his  "Poetic  Principle" 
(October,  1850).  Harriet  Martineau  wrote  for 
Sartain's  her  "  Year  at  Ambleside,"  which 
ran  through  the  year  1850,  and  T.  Buchanan 
Read,  George  Henry  Boker  and  Frederika 
Bremer  were  frequently  in  the  pages  of  the 
magazine. 


POSTSCRIPT. 


Since  the  final  revision  of  these  pages  I 
have  learned  that  Samuel  Stearns  was  the 
editor  of  the  second  volume  (1789)  of  the 
Philadelphia  Magazine.  He  was  a  physician 
and  astronomer,  born  in  Bolton,  Mass.,  in 
1747,  and  died  in  Brattleborough,  Vt,  in  18 19. 
He  made  the  calculations  for  the  first  nautical 
almanac  in  this  country,  which  he  published 
in  New  York,  December  20,  1782.  Twenty- 
eight  years  of  his  life  were  spent  upon  a 
"  Medical  Dispensatory,"  which  he  left  unfin- 
ished at  his  death. 

Of  one  publication  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 
ury, the  Philadelphia  Nimrod  (1798),  I  have 
made  no  mention.  Although  for  a  long  time 
a  hot  questrist  after  it,  I  have  not  been  fortu- 
nate enough  to  come  by  a  copy,  and  of  its  his- 
tory I  am  mainly  ignorant. 

My  list  of  the  medical,  theological  and  sci- 
entific periodicals  of  the  present  century  is  by 
no  means  complete,  but  it  may  be  serviceable 
for  future  correction  and  extension. 
(240) 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       24 I 

There  was  a  publication  in  Philadelphia,  in 
181 1,  entitled  the  Cynic,  "by  Growler  Gruff, 
Esquire,  aided  by  a  Confederacy  of  Lettered 
Dogs."     It  wore  the  motto  : 

We'll  snarl,  and  bite,  and  play  the  dog, 
For  dogs  are  honest. 

It  was  published  weekly  from  September  21 
to  December  12.  The  principal  purpose  of 
the  little  paper  was  to  censure  and  abuse  the 
theatrical  managers  of  the  city  for  abolishing 
the  old  theatre  boxes. 

A  dramatic  review  which  has  a  station  in 
the  file,  and  not  i '  the  worst  rank  either,  is 
the  Whim,  published  by  John  Bioren,  No.  Z% 
Chestnut  Street,  at  twenty  cents  a  number.  It 
was  a  small  paper  issued  during  the  theatrical 
season  and  for  sale  at  the  Falstaff  tavern.  The 
editor,  James  Fennell,  was  born  in  London  in 
1766,  and  died  in  Philadelphia,  June  14,  1816. 
He  came  to  America  in  1793  and  made  his 
first  appearance  in  Philadelphia.  He  pub- 
lished "The  Wheel  of  Truth,"  a  comedy; 
"Picture  of  Paris;"  ''Linden  and  Clara,"  a 
comedy  ;  and  "  Apology  for  My  Life,"  Phila- 
delphia, 1 8 14.  The  first  number  of  the  Whim 
appeared  Saturday,  May  14,  18 14.  The  ar- 
16 


242  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

gument  for  the  publication  was  founded  upon 
the  pre-eminence  of  Philadelphia  among  the 
cities  of  the  nation,  "  The  city  of  Philadelphia 
professedly  and  avowedly  declaring  itself  the 
Athens  of  the  United  States  "  (p.  8).  The  jour- 
nal ceased,  I  believe,  with  the  tenth  number, 
dated  July  i6,  1814. 

It  has  been  no  part  of  my  task  to  discover 
and  describe  the  early  magazines  of  the  State, 
though  that  had  been  an  attractive  piece  of 
literary  exposition — to  the  expounder,  at  least. 
In  conclusion,  however,  it  may  not  be  amiss 
to  recite  a  few  of  the  earlier  examples  of  pro- 
vincial editing. 

The  first  magazine  west  of  the  mountains 
was  the  Huntingdon  Literary  Museum  and 
Monthly  Miscellany.  It  was  edited  by  William 
Rudolph  Smith,  a  grandson  of  Dr.  William 
Smith,  of  the  American  Magazine  (1757-8), 
and  Moses  Canan.  It  was  printed  by  John 
McCahan  and  published  in  18 10.  Its  editors 
defined  it  to  be  "the  first  asylum  for  the 
varieties  of  literature  that  ever  had  been  pub- 
lished west  of  the  Susquehannah "  (p.  576). 
The  magazine  ceased  in  December,  18 10,  with 
the   complaint  that  ''with    the  exception  of 


THE    NINETEENTH    CExNTURY.  243 

some  pieces  of  poetry  from  several  gentlemen 
in  Philadelphia,  and  an  essay  on  the  early 
*  Poetick  Writers,'  the  editors  have  received 
no  original  matter," 

A  still  earlier  periodical  was  the  Gleaner^ 
"  a  monthly  magazine,  containing  original 
and  selected  essays  in  prose  and  verse,"  Stacy 
Potts,  Jr.,  editor,  Lancaster,  1808-9. 

Carlisle  possessed  two  religious  magazines 
of  early  date — the  Religions  Instructor,  "  under 
ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Carlisle, 
1 8 10;"  and  the  Magasi7ie  of  the  German  Re- 
formed Church,  edited  by  Rev.  L.  Mayer,  and 
continued  by  Rev.  Daniel  Young,  begun  in 
1828,  and  making  three  volumes. 

Another  semi-religious  periodical  was  the 
Literary  and  Evangelical  Register,  "  containing 
scientifical,  evangelical,  statistical  and  political 
essays  and  facts,  together  with  missionary  in- 
telligence and  miscellaneous  articles,  inter- 
spersed with  poetry."  This  magazine  was 
edited  by  Eugenio  Kincaid  and  published  at 
Milton,  Pennsylvania.  It  was  begun  in  July, 
1826,  and  continued  until  June,  1827. 

The  Village  Museum,  "  conducted  by  an  as- 
sociation of  young  men  "  (Vol.  I,  18 19-20),  was 


244  PHILADELPHIA    MAGAZINES. 

published  by  Gemmill  and   Lewis  at   York, 
Pennsylvania.     It  bore  for  its  motto  : 

Along  the  cool-sequestered  vale  of  life 
We  keep  the'noiseless  tenor  of  our  way. 

The  magazine  is  full  of  the  neighborhood  and 
gay  with  local  color.     It  ceased  in  July,  1820. 


INDEX. 


Abeille  Americaine,  L',  193 

Abercrombie,  James,  122,  198 

Adams,  John,  144 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  his  commencement  oration,  65  ; 

88-9  ;  his  epitaph  on  Joseph  Dennie,  iio-ii 
Advocate  of  Science,  The,  212 
^sculapian  Register,  The,  202 
Aitken,  Jane,  10 
Aitken,  Robert,  10,  27,  48 
Album,  The,  205,  206 
x^lexander,  Charles,  200,  214 
Allen,  James,  141 
Allen,  Paul,  117,  141 
Allston,  W.,  178 

"American  Addison,  The  "  (Joseph  Dennie),  90 
American  Annual  Register,  The,  75 
American  Journal  of  Homoeopathy,  The,  215 
American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  The,  199 
American  Lancet,  The,  202 
American  Magazine,  The  (No.  i),  26,  28 
American  Magazine,  The  (No.  2),  28,  34,  35,  39,  41, 

43,  46,  220,  242 
American  Magazine,  The  (No.  3),  46,  47 
American  Medical  Recorder,  The,  193 
American  Monthly  Magazine,  The,  202 
American  Monthly  Review,  The,  75 

(245) 


246  INDEX. 

American  Museum,  The,  67-73 

American  Phrenological  Journal,  The,  224-225 

American  Philosophical  Society,  46,  89,  177,  180,  k 

American  Quarterly  Review,  191 

American  Register,  166  ;  (Dobson's),  193 

American  Review  (Walsh's),  189 

American  Sunday  School  Magazine,  The,  202 

American  University  Magazine,  The,  76 

Analectic  Magazine,  123,  145,  178-180,  188 

"  Anarchiad,  The,"  70 

"  Annandius  "  (pen-name  of  Joseph  Shippen),  33 

Annulus,  The,  20 

Arcadian,  The,  202 

Aristotle,  10 

Arminian  Magazine,  The,  74 

Arthur,  T.  S.,  232 

"Arthur  Mervyn  "  (memoirs  of  the  year  1793),  80 

Ashburton,  Lord,  87 

Atkinson's  "Casket,"  217,  223 

**  Atlanticus  "  (pen-name  of  Thomas  Paine),  52 

Atlantic  Journal  and  Friend  of  Knowledge,  209 

Audubon,  John  James,  134,  135 

Aurora,  The,  94,  127 

Bache,  Mrs.  Anna,  232 

Bailej^,  Francis  (publisher),  53,  60 

Banner  of  the  Constitution,  206 

Banner  of  the  Cross,  207 

Baptist  Record,  225 

Barker,  J.  N.,  183 

Baring,  Alexander,  87 

Barlow,  Joel,  10,  62 


INDEX.  247 

Bartram,  John,  (his  botanical  garden),  89  ;  131 

Barton,  Benjamin  Smith,  170,  177 

Beacon,  The,  184 

Bedell,  Rev.  G.  T.,  202 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  213 

Benjamin,  Park,  222 

Bethune,  Geo.  W.,  222 

"Ben  Bolt,"  222,  234 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  191 

Bell,  Robert,  10  ;  his  Third  Street  shop,  11 

Beveridge,  John,  44 

Belknap,  Jeremy,  64,  65 

Benezet,  Anthony,  70,  199 

Biddle,  J.  B.,  editor  of  Medical  Examiner,  73 

Biddle,  N.,  117,  142 

Binney,  Horace,  116,  128 

Bingham,  William,  87 

Bioren,  John,  232 

Bird,  R.  M.,  227 

Blackwood's  Magazine,  177,  191,  203 

Blake,  Geo.,  182 

Blackstone,  publication  of  his  "Commentaries,"  10 

Boston  Magazine,  171 

Botanic  Sentinel,  214 

Boker,  Geo.  H.,  239 

Botanic  Medical  Reformer,  229 

Bouvier,  John,  232 

Bonaparte,  Charles  L.,  135 

Bonaparte,  Jerome,  183 

Bozman,  John  Leeds,  116,  126-7 

Brougham,  John,  234 

Brown,  J.  Ross,  235 


248  INDEX. 

Bremer,  Frederika,  239 

Brackenridge,  H.  H.,  14,  53-60,  69 

Bradford,  Andrew,  23,  26,  28,  69  i 

Bradford,  Samuel,  172,  177  '^ 

Bradford,  William,  28  '  |! 

Brissot,  "Citizen,"  68  | 

Brown,  Charles  Brockden,  15,  20,  79-80;  108,  114,  116,  !;: 

117,  121,  150,  152-170,  236 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  20 
Bulwer,  his  plagiarism  of  "Last  Days  of  Pompeii," 

210,  211 
Burton,  Wm.  K-,  217,  223 
Burnett,  Frances  Hodgson,  her  first  story,  226 
Burr,  C.  Chauncey,  236 
Buckingham,  J.  S.,  93 
Burns,  Robert,  131 
Burke,  Edmund,  143,  172 
Byron,  Lord,  65,  100,  179 

Casket,  The,  218,  223 
Cary,  Phoebe  and  Alice,  222 
Campbell's  Foreign  Magazine,  238 
"  Cabotia  "  (New  England),  99 
Cadwalader,  John,  88 
Cadwalader,  Thos.,  116,  127 
Caldwell,  Dr.  Charles,  93,  117,  142,  143 
Carpenter,  Stephen  C,  172 
Carey,  Mathew,  62,  63,  67-73;  ^72 
Cave,   Edward,   founder  of  the   Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine, 23 
Cent,  The,  the  first  penny  paper,  20 
Childs,  Geo.  W.,  217,  230 


INDEX.  249 

Chandler,  Jos.  R.,  224 

Christian  Observer,  The,  224 

Christian,  The,  203 

Chapman,  Dr.  N.,  116,  126,  199 

"Chiomara"  (Ingersoll),  123 

"Climenole"  (pen-name  of  Jos.  Quincey),  126 

Chew,  Benjamin,  27,  34 

Cholera  Gazette,  The,  209 

Cist,  Charles,  63 

Clarke,  T.  Cottrell,  200 

Cliffton,  William,  54,  122,  186 

Coffin,  R.  S.,  200 

Cooper,  Thomas,  117,  143,  192 

Cooke,  Geo.  F.,  his  visit  to  America,  177 

Coxe,  Alexander  F.,  182 

Coxe,  John  R.,  188,  192 

"  Cousin  Alice  "  (pen-name  of  Alice  Haven),  213 

Conrad,  Robert  T.,  224,  227 

Coates,  Reynell,  239 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor,  143,  176  ;  introduction  to 
Irving,  178 

Cobbett,  William,  82,  83 

Condie,  Thomas  (History  of  the  Plague  in  Philadel- 
phia), 77-8  ;  his  biography  of  Mrs.  Merry,  78 

Copley,  John  Singleton,  102 

"Columbiad,  The,"  10,  62 

Columbian  Magazine,  The,  61-67,  I53 

Cope,  Francis,  116,  119 

"  Common  Sense,"  origin  of  the  pamphlet,  50 

Coombe,  Thos.,  44 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  his  publication  of  "Pre- 
caution," 18;  20,  220,  221 


250  INDEX. 

Corbeille,  La,  202 

Cynic,  The,  241 

"  Crisis,  The,"  publication  of,  63 

Crukshank,  Joseph,  84 

Critic,  The,  185,  187 

Dallas,  A.  J.,  64-67 

Dallas,  G.  M.,  65 

Dallas,  Robert  C,  65 

Davies,  Samuel,  45 

Davis,  John,  9,  52,  95  ;  his  **  Pursuits  of  Philadelphia 

Literature,"  1 19-122 
Darley,  F.  O.  C,  235 
Darlington,  Wm.,  180 
De  Ouincey,  Thomas,  first  publication  in  America  of 

"Confessions  of  an  English  Opium  Eater,"  190 
Delaplaine's  Repository,  144 
Delaplaine,  Joseph,  192 
Dennie,  Joseph,  13,  14,  20,  90-99 ;  the  first  American 

edition  of  Shakespeare,  107-108 ;  his  opinion  of 

Wordsworth,    109  ;  his  death,   110-112  ;  122,   125, 

132,  141,  151,  183,  186 
Dessert  to  the  True  American,  84 
Dickson,  Geo.  W.,  209 
Dickens,  Charles,  reprints  "Charcoal  Sketches"  in 

London, 213 
Dickins,  John,  74,  76,  92 
Dickins,  Asbury,  92,  121 
Dollar  Magazine,  230 
Dorsey,  John  Syng,  116,  124-5 
Dramatic  Mirror,  230 
Duche,  Jacob,  71,  128 


INDEX.  25  I 

Duane,  William,  127 
Dwight,  Timothy,  68,  71 

Eclectic  Journal  of  Medicine,  The,  214 

El}',  Ezra  Styles,  203 

Eiphinstone,  James,  64 

"  Eldred  Grayson  "  (Robert  Hare),  126 

Emporium  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  The,  192 

English,  Thomas  Dunn,  222,  234-235 

Episcopal  Magazine,  The,  19S 

Episcopal  Recorder,  201 

Erin,  The,  201 

Everybodie's  Album,  214 

Evans,  Nathaniel,  43,  130 

Erskine,  Lord,  88 

Evening  Fireside,  The,  170 

Ewing,  Provost,  50,  68,  136,  137 

Ewing,  Samuel,  116,  135-136,  179 

Eye,  The,  188 

"  Falkland  "  (pen-name  of  Dr.  Chapman),  126 

Farmer's  Cabinet,  225 

Farmer's  Weekly  Museum,  14,  91,  92,  125 

Fairfield,  Sumner  Lincoln,  209 

Fennel,  James,  241 

Fenno,  Harriet,  116,  128 

Ferguson,  Mrs.  (Elizabeth  Graeme),  43;  116,  128 

Fessenden,  Thos.  Green,  14,  92 

First  Dramatic  Writing  in  North  Carolina,  no 

First  Religious  Weekly  in  America,  142 

"Forester,  Frank"  (pen-name  of  W.  H.  Herbert),  223 

Foster,  Geo.  G.,  234 


252  INDEX. 

"  Foresters,  The  "  (by  Jeremy  Belknap),  64 

Fox,  Gilbert,  63 

Francis,  Tench,  27 

Francis,  Sir  Philip,  his  Philadelphia  associations,  ic6 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  12,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  29,  41,  46, 

57,  65,  68,  69,  71,  72,  88,  200 
French  Colony,  The,  89-90 
Freneau,  Philip,  53,  59-61,  70 
Franks,  Lewis  P.,  184,  185 
Freemason's  Magazine,  189 
Friends'  Review,  236-237 
Fuller,  Zelotes,  209 
Furness,  Dr.  W.  H.,  236 

"  General  Magazine,"  the  second  in  America,  24,  26,  27 

Geistliches  Magazien^  19,  85 

Gentleman's  Magazine  (London),  23 

Gentleman's  Magazine  (Burton's),  217 

Gentleman's  Vade-Mecum,  212 

Gilder,  W.  H.,  229 

Girard  College,  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  230 

Gift,  The,  177 

Gleaner,  The,  243 

Griswold,  Rufus  W.,  201,  218,  223,  227 

Godwin,  William,  13,  168-169 

Godfre}^,  Thomas,  his  invention  of  the  quadrant,  41,  42 

Godfrey,  Thomas,  the  younger,  42-44 

Graham,  Geo.  R.,  215-225 

Graham's  Magazine,  12,  26,  215-224 

Gray  don,  Alexander,  his  account  of  the  "  carting  "of 

Isaac  Hunt,  105  ;  116,  126 
Graeme,  Dr.  Thos.,  128 


INDEX.  253 

Graeme,  Miss  (Mrs.  Ferguson),  129 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  138 
Godey's  Lady's  Book,  177,  207-208 
Godey,  Louis  A.,  207,  213,  227 
Greeley,  Horace,  236 

Hadley,  his  right  to  the  invention  of  the  quadrant,  41 

Hale,  Sarah  Josepha,  207-20S 

Hall,  Kverard,  author  of  "Nolens  Volens,"  no 

Hall,  Harrison,  87,  117,  140 

Hall,  James,  17,  117,  140 

Hall,  John  E.,  113,  117,  124,  139,  140-141,  148 

Hall,  Sarah,  116,  139 

Hall,  Mrs.  S.  C,  232 

Halleck,  Fitz  Greene,  105 

Hamilton,  Philip,  116 

Hamilton,  Andrew,  183 

Hare,  Robert,  116,  125-6 

Hart,  John  S.,  239 

Hays,  Dr.  I.,  199 

Haven,  Alice  Bradley,  213 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  20,  216,  219,  230 

Herald  of  Truth,  208 

Helmbold,  Geo.,  181,  184,  185 

Herbert,  W.  H.,  223 

Hoffman,  Charles  Fenno,  222 

Holmes,  O.  W.,  207 

Home  Weekly  and  Household  Newspaper,  231 

Hood,   Thomas,    first    appearance  of   his  poems    in 

America,  238 
Hook,  Theo.,  124 
"  Horace  in  Philadelphia,"  124 


254  INDEX. 

Hopkinson,  Frauds,  his  first  poem,  34  ;  35,  50,  68,  70 
Hopkinson,  Joseph,  origin  of  "  Hail  Columbia,"  63  ; 

98,  115,  116,  127,  128 
Humphreys,  David,  76 

Hunt,  Leigh,  his  Philadelphia  origin,  103-5 
Huntingdon  Literary  Museum,  242-3 

Irving,  Washington,  20,  178-179,  194,  223 

Ingersoll,  C.  J.,  98,  116,  123 

Ingersoll,  Edward,  116,  124 

"  Ithacus  "  (pen-name  of  John  Shaw),  119 

Independent  Balance,  181,  184 

Independent  Weekly  Press,  214 

"  It  Snows,"  205 

Jay,  John,  70,  143 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  52,  89,  143,  144 
Jerrold,  Douglas,  236 
John  Donkey,  The,  20,  234-235 

Johnson,  Samuel,  his  "  Rasselas  "  printed  in  Philadel- 
phia, 10;  23,  64,  94,  137-138 
Journal  of  Health,  206 
Juvenile  Magazine,  20,  152,  192 
Juvenile  Port  Folio,  193 
Juvenile  Olio,  152 
''Junius  "  (signature  of  T.  Godfrey),  42 

Kean,  Edmund,  173,  188 
Keats,  John,  106 
Keith,  Sir  Wm.,  128 
Kirkland,  Caroline  M.,  23S-9 
Kincaid,  Eugenio,  243 


INDEX.  255 


Kinnersley,  Ebenezer,  44 
Knickerbocker  Magazine,  223 


Ladies'  Album,  201 

Ladies'  and  Gentlemen's  Literary  Museum,  193 

Ladies'  Companion,  225 

Ladies'  Garland,  208 

Ladies'  Literary  Port  Folio,  206 

Ladies'  Museum,  The,  152 

Lady's  Amaranth,  224 

Lady's  Magazine,  The,  74-5 

Lafayette,  69 

Lantern,  234 

Lawson,  Alex.,  135 

Lawson,  Mary  Lockhart,  135,  222 

Lee,   Gen.   Charles,    his   quarrel  with   Brackenridge, 

58-9 ;  86 
Legal  Intelligencer,  231 
Leland,  Chas.  Godfrey,  224 
Leslie,  Mrs.  Frank,  226 
Leslie,  Charles  Robert,  175-178,  203,  231 
Leslie,  Eliza,  177,  231 
Lines  Written  on   Leaving  Philadelphia  (T.  Moore), 

114-115 
Linn,  John  Blair,  15,  116-11S,  122 
Lippard,  George,  167 
Literalist,  230 

Literary  and  Evangelical  Register,  243 
Literary  Magazine,  132-153,  171 
Literary  Museum,  75-6 
Literary  Register,  230 


256  INDEX. 

Lithograph,  the  first  American,  180 

Littell,  Em  189-191 

Littell's  Living  Age,  191 

Livingstone,  Governor,  67,  71-2 

Lloyd,  Elizabeth,  her  poem  on  Milton,  237 

Logan,  James,  his  library  at  Stenton,  9  ;  his  letters  to 

Halley,  41;  his  gifts  to  the  Philadelphia  Library,  88 
Longfellow,  H.  W.,  20,  207  ;  first  appearance  of  noted 

poems,  221 ;  239 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  20,  216,  218-219,  227 
Lundy,  Benj.,  224 
Lutheran  Observer,  The,  208 
Luncheon,  The,  184 
Lytton,  Lord,  103 
Lyndhurst,  Baron,  102-103 

Madison,  James,  143,  144 

Magazine,  the  first  monthly,  19,  28  ;  the  first  religious, 

19  ;  the  first  mathematical,  20  ;  the  first  juvenile, 

20  ;  the  first  humorous,  20 

Magazine  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  The,  243 

Martineau,  Harriet,  239 

"  Mary's  Lamb,"  208 

Matthias,  Benjamin,  201 

McHenry,  James,  202 

McMichael,  Morton,  201,  213,  227,  232,  234 

Medico-Chirurgical  Review,  The,  225 

Medical  Examiner,  The,  73 

Medical  Review  and  Analectic  Journal,  202 

Merry,  Mrs.,  78-79 

Metcalfe's  Miscellany,  235 

Methodist  Magazine,  The,  76,  92 


INDEX.  257 

Milton,  John,  first  American  edition  of,  10  ;  163 

Mirror  of  Taste  and  Dramatic  Censor,  172,  184 

Miss  Leslie's  Magazine,  177,  231-234 

Mitchell,  Dr.  J.  K.,  222,  227 

Moore,  Thomas,  94,  113-116,  139,  150 

Morris,  Gouvemeur,  116,  127 

Morris,  Robert,  87 

Morris,  Robert  (poet),  222 

Moss,  Henry,  144 

Murray,  Virginia,  232 

National  Gazette,  The,  189-191 

National  Recorder,  The,  190 

Neal,  John,  149-151,  166,  191 

Neal,  Joseph,  86,  213,  222 

Newspaper,  the  first  daily,  19  ;  the  first  penny,  20 

Nicola,  Lewis,  46,  47 

Noah,  Mordecai  M.,  editor  of  "Trangram,"  182 

North  American  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  The,  203 

North  American  Quarterly  Magazine,  The,  209-211 

Occident  and  American  Jewish  Advocate,  The,  231 

"Ode  to  a  Market  Street  Gutter,"  120-1 

"  Oldschool,  Oliver,"  see  Joseph  Dennie. 

"  Optic,  Obadiah,"  188 

Osgood,  Frances,  207,  222 

Otis,  Bass,  180 

Paine,  Thomas,  48,  50,  52,  63,  69 
"Pamela,"  first  American  edition,  10;  27 
Parterre,  The,  193 
Paulding,  James  Kirke,  150,  179,  186,  194,  222 


258  INDEX. 

Payne,  John  Howard,  earliest  reference  to,  no  (editor 

of  the  Thespian  Mirror),  171 
Peale,  Charles  Willson,  87,  89,  loi 
Pemberton,  Israel,  87 
Penn,  John,  27 
Penington,  John,  64 
Pennsylvanian,  The,  213 
Pennsylvania  Evening  Herald,  The,  69 
Pennsylvania  Freeman,  The,  20,  224 
Pennsylvania  Magazine,  The,  28,  48-53,  55,  75 
Peters,  Richard,  116,  127,  129 
Peterson,  Charles  J.,  201,  218,  225,  226-229 
Peterson's  Ladies'  National  Magazine,  225 
'' Philadelphiad,  The,"  quoted,  11 
"  Philadelphia — An  Elegy,"  164 
Philadelphia  Liberalist,  209 
Philadelphia  Library,  88 
Philadelphia  Magazine,  The,  73-4,  240 
Philadelphisches  Magazin,  84 
Philadelphia  Minerv^a,  75 
Philadelphia  Monthly  Magazine,  77 
Philadelphia  Magazine  and  Review,  84 
Philadelphia  Medical  Museum,  188 
Philadelphia  Medical  and  Physical  Journal,  170 
Philadelphia  Nimrod,  240 
Philadelphia  Repository,  The,  229 
Philadelphia  Repository  and  Weekly  Register,  152 
Philadelphia  Register,  190 
Philadelphia  Repertory,  t88 
Philadelphia  Recorder,  202 
Philadelphia  Visitor,  215 
Phillips,  Barnet.  235 


INDEX.  259 

Physick,  Dr.,  177 

Pike,  Albert,  222 

Pickering,  Timothy,  90,  92 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  20,  207,  216-223,  227,  230,  239 

Polyanthus,  The,  171,  209 

Political  Censor,  The,  83 

Pope,  A.,  109 

Porcupine's  Gazette,  82-3 

Port  Folio,  The,  12,  13,  14,  18,  21,  43,  64,  87,  92-151, 

163,  171,  184,  203 
Post-Chaise  Companion,  The,  187 
Potts,  Mrs.  Washington,  177,  231 
Potts,  Stacy,  Jr.,  243 
Poulson's  Daily  Advertiser,  235 
Prentice,  George  D.,  222 
Presbyterian,  The,  208 
Priestley,  Joseph,  117,  143 

"  Prince  of  Parthia,"  first  American  Drama,  44 
Protestant  Episcopalian,  The,  207 

Quarterly  Theological  Magazine,  The,  198 
Quincey,  Josiah,  95,  116,  126 

Radical  Reformer,  The,  213-214 
Rafinesque,  C.  S.,  209 
Raguet,  Condy,  116,  124 
Rakestraw,  Joseph,  170 
Randolph,  Governor,  67 
Read,  T.  B.,  236,  239 
Rees,  James,  230 
Rees'  Cyclopaedia,  62 
Reformer,  The,  200,  203 


26o  INDEX. 

Religious  Instructor,  The,  243 

Religious    Remembrancer,    The,    the    first   religious 

weekly,  19 ;  192 
Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  loi 
Richards,  George,  189 
Rittenhouse,  David,  89,  170 
Rivington,  James,  27,  56-7 
Robespierre,  143 
Rose,  Robert  H.,  116,  1 19-123 
Ross,  John,  27 

Royal  Spiritual  Magazine,  84 
Rural  Magazine,  179 

Rush,  Benjamin,  50,  64,  66,  68,  72,  83,  170,  177 
Rush,  Richard,  116,  127,  138 

Salmagundi,  146,  194-195 

Sanderson,  John,  116,  124,  148 

Sartain,  John,  236-239 

Saturday  Chronicle,  215 

Saturday  Evening  Post,  200-201,  225 

Saturday  Magazine,  190 

Sauer,  C,  19,  85 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  17,  61,  170 

Sedgwick,  Miss,  222 

"Sedley"  (pen-name  of  J.  E.  Hall),  140,  150 

Select  Reviews  and  Spirit  of  the  Foreign  Magazines, 

The,  179,  184 
Sigourney,  L.  H.,  207,  232  236 
Simitiere,  Pierre  E.  Du,  55,  76 
Simms,  William  Gilmore,  222 
Shaw,  John,  116,  11 8-1 19 
Shakespeare,  first  American  edition  of,  17  ;  163 


INDEX.  261 

Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  his  American  origin,  105,  169 

Shewell,  Mary,  mother  of  Leigh  Hunt,  104 

Shippen,  Edward,  87 

Shippen,  Joseph,  33 

"  Sketches  in  Verse,"  119 

Smith,  Rev.  B.  B.,  201 

Smith,  Elihu  Hubbard,  113 

Smith,  G.  H.,  75,  76-77 

Smith,  John  Jay,  212 

Smith,  Richard  Penn,  206,  222,  227 

Smith,  Sydney,  13 

Smith,  Samuel  Stanhope,  144 

Smith,  Dr.  Wm. ,  editor  of  The  American  Magazine, 

31  ;  poem  to,  34  ;  his  home  at  the  Falls,  35  ;  42,  44, 

46,  50,  220,  242 
Smith,  William  R.,  242 
Southey,  Robert,  143 

Spy  in  Philadelphia  and  Spirit  of  the  Age,  The,  212 
Stephens,  Mrs.  Anne,  218 
Stephens,  H.  L.,  235 
Sterling,  James,  37,  40 
Sterne,  Lawrence,  129 
Steams,  Samuel,  240 
Stiles,  Ezra,  67 
Story,  W.  W.,  222 
Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  207 
Street,  Alfred  B.,  222 
Stuart,  Gilbert,  138 
Sully,  Thomas,  loi,  166,  177,  237 
Swift,  Jonathan,  82 

"Tamoc  Caspipna  "  (pseudonym  of  Jacob  Duche),  71 


262  INDEX. 

Taylor,  Bayard,  20,  207,  224,  236 

Temple,  Sir  William,  82 

Tennent,  Gilbert,  26,  45 

Thanksgiving  Day  (made  a  National  Holiday  through 

Mrs.  Sara  Josepha  Hale),  208 
Theatrical  Censor  (first  dramatic  magazine  in  America), 

171 
Theatrical  Censor  and  Critical  Miscellany,  171 
Thespian  Mirror,  171 

Thespian  Monitor  and  Dramatick  Miscellany,  172 
Thomson,  Charles,  10,  42 
Thomas,  Moses,  12,  195 
Tickler,  The,  181 
Tilghman,  Judge,  87 
"Toby  Scratch  'Em  "  (pen-name  of  George  Helmbold), 

181 
Trangram,  The,  181-183 
Trenchard,  John  and  Edward,  63 
Trumbull,  John,  102 
Tuesday  Club,  The,  94 
Tyler,  Royall,  116,  125 

United  States  Magazine,  The,  53-61 
United  States  Magazine  and  Democratic  Review,  The, 
215 

Vaughan,  John,  89 

Verplanck,  G.  C,  his  edition  of  Shakespeare,  107-S 

Vicar  of  Wakefield,  10 

Village  Museum,  243-4 

"  Violetta  "   (pen-name  of  Harriet  Fenno),  128 


INDEX.  263 

Waldie,  Adam,  211,  215,  224 

Waldie's  Select  Circulating  Ivibrary,  211-212 

Waldie's  Literary  Omnibus,  215 

Wallace,  Henry  E..  231 

Walsh,  Robert,  116,  189-192 

Washington,   George,    16,  17,  45,  47,  51,  52,  64,  67,  70, 

72,  78,  87,  89,  117,  143,  189 
Watson,  Klkanah,  quoted,  50 
Watters,  James,  79-81 
Webbe,  Geo.,  86 
Webbe,  John,  19,  24,  25 
Webster,  Noah,  66,  98-99 
Weekly  Magazine,  The,  79-81 
Weekly  Messenger,  The,  215 
West,    Benjamin,    earliest  reference   to,    32  ;   45,    86, 

99-103,  176 
Wharton,  C.  H.,  198 
Wharton,  Thomas,  116,  123 
Wheatley,  Phillis,  51,  52 
Whim,  The,  241 
Whipple,  E.  P.,  221 
Whitfield,  George,  27 
White,  Bishop  William,  138 
Whittier,  J.  G.,  20,  224 
"  AVho  has  robbed  the  Ocean  Cave  ?  "  118 
Willing,  Thos.,  87 
Williams,  J.  N.,  12 
Willis,  N.  P.,  222,  232 
Wilson,  Alexander,  lo,  62,  116,  130,  135 
Winchester,  Elhanan,  74 
Wistar  Parties,  88,  117 
Witherspoon,  Dr.,  50,  56-57 


264  INDEX. 

Wood,  Wm.  B.,  116 

Wood,  Mrs.  Henry,  201 

Wordsworth,  the  first  American  edition  of,  109-10;  163 

Workman,  Judge,  117,  144  • 

Yonng  People's  Book,  The,  230 

Zieber,  G.  B.,  235,  236 


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